Coming of age

Published : May 04, 2012 00:00 IST

Leaders of BRICS, who met in Delhi on March 29, take steps towards achieving the summit's goals: Global Stability, Security and Prosperity.

THE fourth Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) summit, held in New Delhi on March 29, once again saw the leaders of the five emerging world powers share a platform and articulate common views on many of the burning issues facing the international community. Only some sections of the Indian media, taking a cue from the Western media, are trying to play down the importance of the BRICS grouping. The gist of their argument is that four of the member countries have an unequal relationship with China, the grouping's biggest economic power that will, it is being predicted, outgrow the United States by 2020. Sceptics in India and elsewhere have kept on saying that the grouping will be dominated by China. But as the speeches of the leaders at the summit and the Delhi Declaration that followed illustrated, BRICS can provide a win-win scenario, as Chinese officials say, for all the member countries.

The BRICS leaders are taking steps towards the achievement of the stated goals of the summit: Global Stability, Security and Prosperity. The groundwork has now been laid to further deepen cooperation among the five countries, which have the bulk of the world's population and much of its resources. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that despite member countries differing on some global issues, there are many common interests that bind us all together. In his opening speech, Manmohan Singh advocated speedy reforms in global international financial and political institutions and urged the BRICS grouping to work together to overcome the challenges posed by the global economic downturn. BRICS, he said, should work towards adopting a common position on issues relating to climate change, food security and trade linkages. BRICS should also speak with one voice on important issues such as the reform of the United Nations Security Council, the Prime Minister urged.

President Hu Jintao of China stressed the importance of practical cooperation between the member countries, keeping the goal of common development and common prosperity in focus. Senior Chinese officials said that the priority was to ensure the continuity of global economic reforms. The other BRICS leaders agreed that reforms were essential for the growth of the world economy and for the achievement of sustainable global development. Chinese officials emphasised that their government was committed to cooperation with developing countries come rain or shine. China was the first to propose the need to strengthen economic cooperation among BRICS countries. Chinese officials have suggested that senior officials from the grouping, including Finance Ministers and central bank Governors, meet on a more regular basis.

President Dilma Roussef of Brazil described BRICS as one of the most important engines of the world economy, pointing out that the countries of the grouping would be accounting for 56 per cent of the economic growth forecast by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for 2012. She, like the other BRICS leaders, blamed the developed world for the unjust growth policies that brought about the current global economic crisis. Brazilian Trade and Industry Minister Fernando Pimentel said his country wanted the summit's final communiqu to contain language that would be critical of the monetary policies being pursued by the U.S. and western European countries. Brazil accused rich countries of causing a monetary tsunami by introducing low interest rates and bond-buying programmes.

The Delhi Declaration adopted at the end of the summit announced that the member states were exploring the possibility of setting up a common development bank. The Finance Ministers of the five countries have been tasked by their leaders to come up with a feasibility study on the proposed South-South bank before the next BRICS summit, to be held in Russia. The leaders indicated that the bank would be a counterweight to institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF, which continue to be under the dominance of the West. They resolved to work in unison to pressure the West into making the World Bank and the IMF more accommodative to the needs of the developing world. There were discussions among the leaders to support a candidate from a developing country for the top post in the World Bank. The leaders stated that they wanted the heads of the IMF and the World Bank to be selected through an open and merit-based process.

The BRICS nations decided to invest more in the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, which has been focussing on the needs of developing countries. The other priorities they outlined were the Doha Development Agenda of the World Trade Organisation and the Millennium Development Goals of the U.N.

The BRICS nations have also agreed to promote trade in local currencies in order to reduce their dependency on the U.S. dollar and protect themselves from its volatility. Trading in local currencies will be conducted only through state-owned banks. This agreement is aimed at reducing the importance of the dollar and could be interpreted as the first step to challenge its supremacy. Standard Bank, the largest bank in Africa, in a recent report predicted that $100 billion in Sino-African trade would be settled in renminbi by 2015. South Africa is already taking steps to replace the dollar as the preferred worldwide currency for trade and investments in developing countries.

Foreign policy issues

Importantly, for the first time in the short history of BRICS, foreign policy issues were dealt with at considerable length in the Delhi Declaration. The BRICS leaders recognised the vital importance that stability, peace and security of the Middle East [West Asia] and North Africa holds for all of us. On Syria, the declaration said that the crisis there should be solved through peaceful means that encourage national dialogues, which reflect the legitimate aspirations of all sections of Syrian society and respect the Syrian independence, territorial integrity and sovereignty.

Russian diplomats were unhappy with India's vote in the U.N. Security Council on Syria and the recent vote in the U.N. Human Rights Council on the human rights situation in Sri Lanka. They have been calling for a unified stand by BRICS on key foreign policy issues. A common position is needed on issues like Iran and Syria. The BRICS leaders should coordinate their positions at the summit, said Alexander Kadakin, Russia's Ambassador to India. He pointed out that the threats to Iran by the West had led to shocks to the oil market, which adversely affected the economies of many developing countries. Russia and China had made the grievous diplomatic error of supporting the Security Council Resolution on Libya last year, which gave the West a carte blanche for regime change in that country. India had abstained on the Libya resolution.

On Iran, the BRICS nations cautioned against the escalation of the crisis, stating that it would have disastrous consequences. The leaders acknowledged Iran's crucial role in a region of high political and economic relevance. At the same time, the BRICS declaration recognised Iran's right to peaceful uses of nuclear energy consistent with its international obligations. It called for resolution of the Iran issue through political and diplomatic means and dialogue. The statements pertaining to Syria and Iran are important signals to the West that the BRICS nations are slowly but surely formulating a common stance on key foreign policy issues. The leaders stressed the importance of adhering to international law while tackling regional problems.

The Delhi Declaration called for a speedy resolution of the Palestine issue, implicitly calling on Israel not to use the Arab Spring upheavals as a pretext for not engaging in meaningful talks with the Palestinians. The statement noted that the unresolved Palestinian issue was one of the main underlying causes for the instability in the Arab world. On the issue of a reformed Security Council, Russia and China, while not openly endorsing the candidature of the other three members, supported their desire to play a more meaningful role in the U.N.

The Indian government took a tough stance with Tibetan exile groups who had planned large-scale protests in Delhi to coincide with the Chinese President's visit. A serious incident that took place before the arrival of the BRICS leaders in Delhi was the self-immolation of a young Tibetan activist. Chinese officials said that they were saddened by the death. They recalled that India was among the first countries to recognise the Tibetan Autonomous Region as part of China. They also said that the border talks between the two countries were going on satisfactorily.

The Indian Prime Minister had a 60-minute meeting with the Chinese President. The two sides agreed that there was a need to improve communication channels to further strengthen the goodwill that exists between the countries and to reduce scope for misunderstanding. The two leaders identified West and Central Asia and Africa as areas on which they could hold dialogue on a regular basis. The two countries are engaged in the hydrocarbon and mineral sectors in these regions. There is a seeming undercurrent of rivalry between the two resource-hungry nations as they scramble for oil and influence in Africa and Asia.

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