Illustration: Liu Rui/GT
The 7th BRICS summit will be held in Ufa, the capital city of the Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia, on July 8 and 9. Back in 2009, when four heads of government from the BRIC countries first met in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg, the cooperative mechanism of BRIC countries was formally launched. People are highly anticipating the leaders' summit coming back to Russia six years later. While Russia unveiled the theme of this year's event, "BRICS partnership: A powerful factor for global development," it has grasped the key point of collaboration among the BRICS countries. It's expected that the Ufa summit will become another milestone in BRICS cooperation.
In 2001, when Jim O'Neill, then chief economist of investment bank Goldman Sachs, first raised the idea of BRIC, even the most optimistic forecast did not predict the rapid development that these economies would undergo. The GDP of the BRICS countries has increased from 7 percent of the global total to over 20 percent. Especially after the financial crisis in 2008, the BRICS countries became the engine of global economic growth.
Apart from that, the emergence of its cooperative mechanism has also made striking process. Since the first-ever meeting of the BRIC foreign ministers took place in 2006, the BRICS countries have established a multi-level framework of collaboration in terms of finance, economy and trade, industry and commerce, agriculture, health, science and technology, which are led by the meetings of leaders, senior representatives of security affairs, and foreign ministers. The BRICS countries have also become a crucial platform for communication and dialogues among emerging markets and developing nations in the field of economy, finance, and development. It is now a driving force in promoting global economic growth, improving global economic governance, and strengthening multilateralism as well as the democratization of international relations.
It's true that the economic growth of the BRICS countries is facing a slowdown recently, and worries are emerging that the BRICS dream is fading.
However, although the slowdown in their economies is a fact, there are both external and internal factors, among which those countries' structural reforms based on their own economic development play an important role. Thus, it is not appropriate to regard the trend as the sign of the decline of the BRICS countries. Besides, slowdown is a relative term. Compared with their own speed of economic growth in the past, there is a deceleration, but compared with the developed world, their pace of growth is still rather high.
People might ask that since the BRICS countries are geographically far from each other, with different cultures and national conditions, how can they unite themselves and become close partners?
Yet past experiences show that these nations are well on their way to maintaining communication and coordination over major international and regional issues under the principles of mutual understanding and mutual respect. They have sought common ground while reserving differences and promoted pragmatic cooperation through consultation on the basis of equality. The BRICS countries share the same or similar views over major international and regional affairs, and their partnership is not only feasible, but also sustainable.
The practical partnership among the BRICS countries is moving forward. Apart from economic and trade cooperation, the highlight of the collaboration must be the announcement of the establishment of the BRICS New Development Bank and emergency reserve fund last year in Fortaleza, Brazil. The bank and the fund will not only benefit the development of the BRICS countries, but also show the efficiency and capability of BRICS cooperation to the world.
More importantly, the initial subscribed capital is split equally among the five participating countries, which perfectly embodies the spirit of "openness, inclusiveness and all-win cooperation." After a year of preparation, the arrangements of the New Development Bank and emergency reserve fund are expected to move forward during the Ufa summit, which will lay a solid foundation for the BRICS partnership. And the closer collaboration is bound to be a major driving force of each member's economic growth.
A good anvil does not fear the hammer. The BRICS countries will not lose their gloss for the temporary economic slowdown. By
