SCIO briefing on BRICS opportunities, challenges and prospects
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E-mail China.org.cn, August 28, 2017
Zhang Jianping:
In fact, your question represents a typical view known as "fading of the BRICS" that has been around for a while. However, I would remind you that the acronym of "BRIC" was actually invented by economists from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in the United States and therefore, as it is an institution based in the United States, you should not be suspicious of the BRICS concept.
People talk about Brazil, South Africa and Russia suffering from the "resource curse." However, as Secretary-general Zhang Yansheng just mentioned, the BRICS countries presently contribute 52 percent of global economic growth. Although developed countries account for a larger proportion of the total amount of the world economy, that is in the form of stocks. On an incremental basis, the contribution of the United States and Japan to current world economic growth is far below that of the BRICS countries. Over the last 10 years, the overall GDP of the five BRICS countries has accounted for 23 percent of the global economy, a ride of 11 percent over that period. If we look at the next 10 to 20 years, this proportion will steadily increase, and as part of a dynamic process, BRICS cooperation will become ever more valuable.
Looking at trade and investment, we just mentioned that the international trade of BRICS countries accounts for 16 percent of the global figure, rising from 11 percent a decade ago. The proportion of BRICS countries' GDP in the world economy has increased to 23 percent from 12 percent. In other words, almost double. You can see that the trade volume didn't keep up with the pace of GDP growth, which points to big demand of mutual trade and mutual investment among the BRICS countries as the next step.
In fact, from China's perspectives, our cooperation on production capacity with Latin American countries, such as Brazil, as well as with South Africa and Russia, is now moving forward rapidly. Even though there are contradictions between India and China, our entrepreneurs have also begun to invest in India. For example, Huawei, Xiaomi and Midea, companies well known internationally, have all invested in India.
As for mechanism cooperation, I will say that the BRICS will continue to press ahead in this regard. Some people have questioned there are the necessary cooperation mechanisms within the BRICS system, and I would say that the annual BRICS Summit itself is the most important mechanism. We also have the Meeting of the BRICS Trade Ministers, which was established in 2011, a mechanism established earlier than the G20 Trade Ministers Meeting, which was only set up last year. Thirdly, under the ministerial mechanism we have created different working groups handling different areas, such as e-commerce and intellectual property rights, playing a good role in promoting pragmatic cooperation in each field. Moreover, we have established the IPR protection mechanism, under which we hold talks and promote cooperation each year.
Next, we will improve the mechanisms in many areas, including e-commerce and service trade. China will host the China International Import Expo in 2018, which will be a very important mechanism for BRICS cooperation. India, Brazil and South Africa have high expectations of a growing share in the Chinese market. Therefore, with the improvement of mechanism, the economic and trade potential of BRICS countries will be continuously tapped and we will make greater contributions to the world economy in the future.
The gold of BRICS will glitter ever brighter, rather than fade over time. Thank you.
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