BRICS countries urged to strengthen solidarity

JOHANNESBURG－The BRICS grouping should strengthen solidarity and deepen collaboration as the world confronts many challenges, says Anil Sooklal, deputy director-general for Asia and the Middle East at the Department of International Relations and Cooperation of South Africa.

"There was a clear call from all of the BRICS countries that we need to solidify, even more, our cooperation and that we need to interact more with the global South," he said.

Collaboration within BRICS, which is a grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, has yielded positive results in many sectors, Sooklal said.

"We launched the BRICS Vaccine Research and Development Center, where we collectively address the issues of vaccine production, the issue of capacity, especially in developing countries."

On the financial front, the New Development Bank has been a positive force for BRICS collaboration, he said.

"In terms of the number of projects that have been initiated over the past five years since the bank came into existence… it has assisted all of us in terms of our infrastructure and sustainable development projects, South Africa has benefited to the tune of over billions of US dollars on projects under the New Development Bank."

BRICS remains relevant because of the many challenges facing the Global South and fault lines in global geopolitics and economics, in which there is an unbalanced international architecture that favors certain countries, he said.

"The BRICS has to work collectively to address these challenges and fast-track the issues affecting the countries of the Global South. Therefore not only BRICS, but also BRICS' partnership with the emerging market and developing countries can be a voice of the Global South."

The world, especially the Global South, has been suffering from the pandemic, the crisis in Ukraine, economic challenges, threats to food and energy security and disruptions to the global supply chain, most of which are the result of unjust unilateral sanctions imposed outside the United Nations system by a select few countries, Sooklal said.

"The best way is to act as a collective force in the Global South to challenge the unjust system."

Xinhua