By Staff Reporters

The 2022 BRICS Foreign Ministers' Meeting was held on May 19. (PHOTO: VCG)

China is willing to work with all countries, including BRICS countries, to promote common development around the world, Chinese President Xi Jinping said in BRICS Foreign Ministers' Meeting via video on May 19.

More than 130 political party leaders, as well as representatives of think tanks and civil society organizations from 10 countries, participated in the BRICS forum online.

BRICS mechanism ensures "no decoupling"

Since the establishment of the BRICS mechanism, cooperation among the five-member countries has been strengthened and expanded. Now, the cooperation covers dozens of fields, such as economy, science and technology, agriculture, culture and health. It has now become a mechanism that prevents decoupling and ensures countries cooperate.

Cooperation among BRICS members within the BRICS framework has created favorable conditions for their own  development,  said  Boris Vyacheslavovich, Chairman of the Supreme Council of United Russia. He also pointed out that as the world undergoes complex changes and the old structure of international relations is being replaced by multipolarity, countries and political parties should adhere to the principles of collaboration, follow the accepted norms of international law, adhere to open-up and mutual trust, take into account the interests of all parties, and work to eliminate the destructive influence of the West on the international community.

The ministers who attended the meeting expressed their support for an open, transparent, fair, inclusive, non-discriminatory and rules-based multilateral trading system, with a view to ensuring a level playing field with special and differential treatment for developing countries, and avoiding the unilateral actions and protectionist measures that run counter to the rules of WTO. They supported a robust Global Financial Safety Net with a quota-based and adequately resourced IMF at its center.

BRICS focuses on development

Every country has the right to development. The BRICS countries should take concrete actions to promote global development and create an environment for mutual benefit and win-win cooperation. Amid the pandemic, China has always adhered to the general policy of "dynamic zero-COVID policy," and acts swiftly to contain the COVID-19 resurgence. China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, as a responsible member of the international community, China stands ready to make greater contributions to fighting the global pandemic.

Herman Tiu Laurel, founder of Philippine-BRICS Strategic Studies, said that BRICS cooperation would help guide the world back to the development agenda, at a time when tensions in some regions threaten to drag the world down into a quagmire of recrimination and disintegration. BRICS countries will be an essential force for the recovery of the world economy and the practice of multilateralism in its true sense in the post-epidemic era.

David Monyae, director of the UJ Centre for Africa-China Studies, believes that the concept of "common prosperity" proposed by China advocates the common development of all humankind, in contrast to the profit-oriented ideology of Western capitalism. China's world-renowned achievement in poverty alleviation has encouraged developing countries, including African countries, and is of great significance.

BRICS should expand membership

During the meeting, China proposed to start the process of expanding BRICS, discuss the standards and procedures of this expansion, and gradually form a consensus. This proposal has been widely welcomed by the other four member countries, as it will help expand the influence of BRICS and also maintain peace. Argentina and other countries have expressed their willingness to join BRICS.

Argentina President Alberto Fernández said in the congratulatory letter that the group represents, "An excellent alternative of cooperation in the face of a world order which functions for the benefit of a few."

He added, "The new development bank of BRICS in which my country could participate, is for me the institutionalization of a new world order centered on development and far removed from the financial speculation which has caused  so  much damage to our countries."