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by Yi Fan
The 2023 BRICS summit that concluded in South Africa last week is trailblazing and uplifting for the Global South.
To speak in figures — a historic number of six countries admitted as full BRICS members; leaders of more than 60 nations attended the BRICS-Africa Outreach and a BRICS Plus Dialogue, and a dozen leaders from the subregions of Africa spoke at the China-Africa Leaders’ Dialogue.
Such is the grand gathering of emerging markets and developing countries (EMDCs) seeking a more just and equitable world.
NEW START
Embracing the new members — Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — BRICS will account for roughly one third of the global GDP and half of the world’s population and oil reserves. Among the Group of 20 countries, seven will be BRICS members, on a par with the Group of Seven.
A global consensus is building: a few rich nations have been dominating world affairs for too long. Most recently, the Global South all took a lesson when Russia had its foreign reserves frozen and was kicked out of the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT), and Afghanistan saw billions of dollars blocked while the Afghans are struggling to feed themselves.
One theme reverberating in the conference halls of Johannesburg is increasing the use of local currencies in international trade and financial transactions between BRICS and their trading partners. Now with six of the world’s 10 leading oil exporters in BRICS, petrodollar’s grip on the global financial system looks precarious. Another message conveyed by almost all EMDC leaders is to reform the global governance systems where the Global South is underrepresented.
INSPIRING ACTIONS
As with other development fora, China came up with a concrete and tailored policy package. This time, it plans to support Africa’s industrialization, agricultural modernization and talent development. China, as the largest developing country, understands the bottlenecks holding back development. This is why its proposals are well-informed and well-matched to Africa’s modernization needs. Africa’s approval and enthusiasm are evident, as can be seen in the tight crowd of leaders surrounding Chinese President Xi Jinping to congratulate and thank him after their meeting.
At the BRICS summit, President Xi unveiled a special fund of 10 billion U.S. dollars by Chinese financial institutions dedicated to implementing the Global Development Initiative (GDI). The GDI has an express purpose — to give impetus to the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. While many lament the loss of steam in realizing these critical development goals, few, other than China, have explicitly said what they would do about it.
The Global South is no stranger to lip-service aid. “Somebody from a developing country said to me, ‘What we get from China is an airport. What we get from the United States is a lecture,’” said former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers in an interview.
BOOSTING FAITH
It can be disheartening to live in a turbulent world battered by competition, conflicts and crises. A single conflict is consuming too much global attention and resources. The plight of billions more is ignored. The Johannesburg summit zoomed in on the things that truly matter: peace, cooperation and development.
Participating leaders affirmed their support for the proposals of China and Africa for a peaceful settlement of the Ukraine crisis, and warned against inflammatory actions.
Western media are right to note that the new and aspiring BRICS members are quite disparate. Some even have a difficult history between themselves, as in the case of Saudi Arabia and Iran. But their conclusions are wrong. These countries’ diversity is not an indication of disunity, but rather evidence of a strong commitment to reconciliation and cooperation. This is already seen in the Middle East, where the China-brokered Saudi-Iran deal has set in motion a wave of rapprochement.
From industrial capacity, infrastructure and trade to human capital, digital economy and pandemic prevention, discussions in Johannesburg covered many areas critical to EMDCs and led to good ideas and legitimate calls. They converge in one keyword — development. A strong driving force behind the development agenda is China, which is set to highlight the topic again at the upcoming global forum on the Belt and Road Initiative.
This chorus gives us hope that our world may be able to rise above the structural problems having long beset it and embrace a more equitable future.
When all is said and done, the Johannesburg summit is nothing short of a historic victory for the Global South. As President Xi rightly put it, this is “a new starting point for BRICS cooperation,” and it will “further strengthen the forces for world peace and development.”
Editor’s note: Yi Fan is a Beijing-based international affairs commentator.
The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Xinhua News Agency.
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