BRICS agenda to help world refocus on development: observers

BEIJING - The agenda of the upcoming 14th BRICS Summit and other related events will help the world refocus on development, observers said.

The summit will be held under the theme of "Foster High-quality BRICS Partnership, Usher in a New Era for Global Development." The High-level Dialogue on Global Development and the BRICS Business Forum will also be held this week.

The leaders of the world's five prominent emerging markets -- Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa -- as well as leaders from other developing countries will attend the events.

"The BRICS countries in the year 2022 become all the more important," said Herman Tiu Laurel, founder of Philippine BRICS Strategic Studies, stressing that the mechanism allows the BRICS countries to lead the world out of the quagmire of conflict and tension, and focus again the attention of the global community on development.

BRICS countries account for about a quarter of the global economy. In recent years, they have contributed 50 percent to world economic growth.

"BRICS countries will become an indispensable and important force for the post-COVID-19 world economic recovery and true multilateralism," Laurel said.

Observers said BRICS cooperation is already about more than the five countries. Since its inception, the cooperative mechanism has closely related its future to the fortunes of the emerging markets and developing countries.

At the BRICS Xiamen Summit in 2017, the "BRICS Plus" approach was adopted. It is designed to strengthen the unity and coordination among BRICS members for greater cohesion, and to keep broadening the BRICS "circle of friends" in a joint pursuit of shared development and prosperity for all emerging markets and developing countries.

The approach explores cooperation within the United Nations, the G20, and other frameworks to advance the common interests and boost the development of emerging markets and developing countries, thus contributing more to world peace and development through broader partnerships.

The BRICS countries have been making significant contributions to improving global economic governance and promoting global economic recovery, said Rosalia Varfalovskaya, leading researcher of the Center for China Socio-Economic Research, the Institute of Far Eastern Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The "BRICS Plus" model will further unleash the potential of economic cooperation, the Russian expert added.

The Global Development Initiative, proposed by China last year, is expected to be touched upon at the upcoming events to galvanize greater attention on development and bring development back to the center of the international agenda, analysts said.