BRICS Summit opens new chapter for cooperation: Chinese vice FM

The 14th BRICS Summit held on Thursday opened a new chapter of cooperation and demonstrated the bright future for the BRICS mechanism, according to Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu.

Ma, also coordinator for China’s BRICS affairs, described the meeting as a “milestone” in an interview after attending the summit hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.

“Today’s meeting is very successful. It could be called a milestone which ushers in the future. Led by President Xi, who hosted the summit, leaders of the BRICS countries conducted in-depth discussions and exchanges on the theme of ‘Foster High-quality BRICS Partnership, Usher in a New Era for Global Development’.

At the meeting, President Xi delivered an important speech and put forward a four-point proposal on BRICS cooperation, emphasizing solidarity, cooperation in development, pioneering spirit, and innovation, as well as openness and inclusiveness.

This points out the way forward for building a high-quality BRICS partnership, and generated warm feedback from all parties. Participants have noted that under the strong leadership of President Xi Jinping, China, as the BRICS chair country this year, has actively responded to complex situations, risks, and challenges, achieved fruitful results in promoting BRICS cooperation, deepened the BRICS strategic partnership, enhanced the influence of the BRICS countries, and made new contributions to maintaining world peace and promoting global development,” Ma said.

The Summit adopted and released Beijing Declaration, stressing solidarity and cooperation to further strengthen strategic partnership among the BRICS countries.

“This meeting adopted the Beijing Declaration of the 14th BRICS Summit. It stated BRICS countries’ position on major global, international, and regional issues such as multilateralism, international fairness and justice, anti-epidemic cooperation, and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. At the same time, it summarized many achievements of BRICS pragmatic cooperation, and made plans for the next stage of cooperation,” Ma said.

The BRICS mechanism has achieved significant results and ushered in a new era as China holds the presidency for the third time, Ma pointed out.

“This year, China holds the BRICS presidency for the third time, and the BRICS China year has many highlights. Many pragmatic cooperation achievements have been made in various fields such as global economic recovery, epidemic prevention and control, digital economy, sustainable development, and cultural exchanges. BRICS cooperation has reached a new level in terms of quantity, quality and significance. China has made its contributions to promoting the high-quality development of the BRICS. This meeting has opened a new chapter of BRICS cooperation and demonstrated the bright future of the BRICS mechanism,” Ma said.