BRICS a supporter of global governance reform

Editor's note: People's Daily Overseas Edition interviewed Ren Lin, a researcher of economics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and Xu Xiujun, a researcher of regional studies at the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, about the significance of BRICS. Below are excerpts of the interviews. The views don't necessarily represent those of China Daily.

The BRICS mechanism is becoming an increasingly important force for stabilizing the world economic order and advancing reform of global governance.

First, China and other BRICS countries are working together to uphold the multilateral trading system, oppose unilateralism and protectionism, and advance reform of the World Trade Organization.

Second, the BRICS countries are expanding practical economic and trade cooperation across a wide range of fields, using greater certainty within the group to offset uncertainty in the external environment. BRICS countries have achieved concrete results in such areas as food security, the resilience of industry and supply chains and global financial governance.

Third, BRICS countries are using the platform to build consensus among Global South countries and promote reform of the global economic governance system in a fairer and more equitable direction. BRICS has become a key platform for bringing together the collective concerns of the Global South and strengthening the institutional voice of developing countries.

China plays a major role in BRICS economic and trade cooperation. This role can be understood at three levels: material, institutional and conceptual.

At the material level, China is a key hub and major engine of economic and trade cooperation among BRICS countries. Leveraging its position as the world's largest market for smart manufacturing applications, China shares the benefits of technological progress with other BRICS members and helps emerging economies and developing countries pursue common growth.

At the institutional level, China has consistently stood alongside other BRICS members in upholding genuine multilateralism and opposing unilateralism and trade protectionism. At the same time, China has worked to strengthen regulatory and institutional connectivity within BRICS, deepening cooperation in areas such as trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, digital trade, trade in services and AI governance. These efforts are helping advance regional economic integration within BRICS and create more institutionalized arrangements for multilateral cooperation.

At the conceptual level, China has contributed governance approaches that combine fairness with practical feasibility. A number of ideas originating in China have been translated into concrete practices within the BRICS framework.

China has also consistently sought to make BRICS a channel for solidarity and cooperation among countries of the Global South and a force in reforming global governance toward a fairer and more equitable system.