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Boosting the sustainable economy is the biggest issue that five BRICS countries should handle. And whether the members will overcome the obstacle or not is key to the success of the BRICS mechanism, said Chen Dongxiao, president of the Shanghai Institutes of International Studies.
He made the remarks during an exclusive interview with the Asia Pacific Daily (APD) on Tuesday, after the conclusion of a seminar on “China’s Cooperation with BRICS Nations and Other Emerging Economies” on July 13.
Chen said western media often give negative comments on the BRICS cooperation, like “fading its color”, and “the five nations with six minds” and etc. On this issue, people should neither be pessimistic nor blindly optimistic.
On one hand, the public should know the BRICS mechanism is an interactive mechanism between big powers, which is independent from the western political system, so defaming BRICS cooperation is beneficial for the western countries. On the other hand, amid global economic slowdown, the five BRICS members should make greater efforts to develop their economies, he said.
Currently, China is carrying out the supply-side structural reform with the economic structure adjustment. The Modi administration is striving for achieving its national development policy of “Made in India”, by mending underdeveloped infrastructure and managing low efficient, corrupted bureaucratic system and solving other thorny problems. The other three BRICS countries, Russia, Brazil, and South Africa, are beginning to change their economic models from a national-dominated single primary commodity exporter to a higher-level producer in the global value chains, according to Chen.
The president said: “BRICS has two biggest internal obstacles -- trade imbalance and vying with each other”.
Though China has already become the major trade partner and investor of the other four BRICS countries, trade cooperation among the others is still poor. Also, severe trade protectionism among BRICS countries makes trade cooperation more difficult. The members still introduce trade barriers to each other, and the WTO arbitration application of trade between BRICS nations often occur, he said.
The expert then offered solutions to this issue, stressing enhancing cooperation and communication is highly necessary.
“Achievements in ten years of BRICS development are not easy, think tanks from all BRICS countries need increase communication and drew lessons from the past,” he said.
Chen said the experts would focus on topics like maintaining economic growth of BRICS countries, developing their market-oriented economy, avoiding rate race to each other. They should also discuss which countries bear the expenses after the US exited the Paris Agreement and how the BRICS countries help other emerging economies.
“BRICS countries have the larger and stronger economy than other emerging economies, so we can not only set an example for the new type of south-south cooperation, but also build the bridge for the north-south cooperation. Still, we can make contributions to countries around the world in terms of ways of cooperation, priorities, and concepts,” he added.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
