BRICS vows to promote open world economy
HONG KONG: Leaders attending the BRICS summit in Xiamen, China, said they will continue to fight for an economically open world, state media reported on Monday.
“We emphasize the importance of an open and inclusive world economy enabling all countries and peoples to share in the benefits of globalization,” Xinhua News Agency cited a joint statement from the summit leaders as saying.
“We will continue to firmly oppose protectionism,” the groups said at the summit.
The BRICS association consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa and is a group of emerging economies that positions itself as a counterweight in a Westerndominated world order.
China has been pushing the idea of the BRICS group as a cohesive block and Chinese President Xi Jinping in his keynote speech on Sunday called for the countries to push back against rising global protectionism and come up with concrete ways to deal with problems arising from globalization.
Covering more than 25 per cent of the world’s land area and more than 40 per cent of its population, the group generated 22.5 per cent of 2015 world gross domestic product, the bloc said, citing International Monetary Fund estimates.
The BRICS conference will include talks Tuesday with the leaders of Egypt, Guinea, Mexico, Tajikistan and Thailand, who have been invited under its “Brics Plus” process.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, Brazilian President Michel Temer, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and South African President Jacob Zuma were welcomed to the three-day BRICS conference at an opening ceremony on Sunday evening by Xi.