Excerpts From President Xi Jinping’s Speech At the Plenary Session of the Johannesburg Summit

History keeps surging forward independent of people’s wish. We the BRICS countries must therefore have a keen grasp of the trend of our times, deepen our strategic partnership, and consolidate our cooperation framework underpinned by economic, political and security cooperation and people-to-people exchanges. This way, we will be able to turn our vision of a second “Golden Decade” into a reality, and together build a community with a shared future for mankind.

First, BRICS countries must unlock the enormous potential of our economic cooperation. Closer economic cooperation for shared prosperity is the original purpose and priority of BRICS cooperation. It is also in the economic field that BRICS enjoy the most promising, diverse and fruitful cooperation. BRICS countries need to step up trade, investment, economic, financial, and connectivity cooperation to make this pie still bigger. At the same time, they must work together at the United Nations, the Group of 20 (G20), and the World Trade Organization to safeguard the rule-based multilateral trading regime, promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and reject protectionism outright.

It is important that BRICS countries continue to pursue innovation-driven development and build a Partnership on New Industrial Revolution to strengthen coordination on macroeconomic policies, find more complementarities in our development strategies, and reinforce each other’s efforts in renewing economic driving forces and upgrading economic structure. In this context, China will host 10 human resources development programs during which experts of our five countries will be invited to draw up a blueprint for our cooperation in the new industrial revolution. By so doing, China hopes to enhance the competitiveness of not only BRICS countries but also other emerging markets and developing countries.

Second, BRICS countries must safeguard global peace and security. Political and security cooperation is an important component of BRICS strategic partnership. They should stay committed to multilateralism and to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. They should call on all parties to abide by international law and basic norms governing international relations and to settle disputes through dialogue and differences through consultation. By fully leveraging the role of BRICS meetings of foreign ministers, national security advisers and permanent representatives to the United Nations, five countries can make their voice heard, put forth their solutions, and jointly work for a new type of international relations featuring mutual respect, equality, justice and win-win cooperation.

Third, BRICS countries must expand people-to-people exchanges. BRICS countries boast great civilizations. When it comes to cultural and people-to-people exchanges, there is a lot they can do together. As a matter of fact, such exchanges have notably gained momentum over the last year or two. Five countries should aim at greater people-to-people connectivity and more popular support for BRICS cooperation through extensive exchanges in cultural, educational, health, sports, tourism and other areas. China would therefore like to suggest joint touring exhibitions by the BRICS alliances of museums, art museums, national galleries, and libraries and closer cooperation in the cultural, creative and tourism industries and at the sub-national level. This way, they can spread the BRICS story far and wide to further enhance the mutual understanding and traditional friendship among peoples.

Fourth, BRICS countries must build a network of closer partnerships. Since the inception of the BRICS mechanism, openness and inclusiveness have remained an abiding commitment. The BRICS Plus approach adopted at the Xiamen Summit is designed to strengthen the unity and coordination among BRICS members for greater cohesion and, at the same time, to keep broadening the BRICS “circle of friends” in a joint pursuit of shared development and prosperity for all emerging markets and developing countries. Five countries may explore BRICS Plus cooperation within the United Nations, the G20, and other frameworks to advance the common interests and boost the development space for emerging markets and developing countries, thus contributing more to world peace and development through broader partnerships.

(Source: Xinhua News Agency)