China
Source: www.chinadaily.com.cn

JOHANNESBURG - Russian President Vladimir Putin's upcoming state visit to China is of great significance to the planning of the next-phase growth of China-Russia relations, said China's top diplomat Wang Yi on Sunday.

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi made the remarks while meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the Formal Meeting of the BRICS Ministers of Foreign Affairs here.

President Putin is scheduled to pay a state visit to China on June 8-10 and attend the Qingdao Summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), said Wang.

It will be President Putin's first visit to China in a new presidential term and it will also be the first time for President Xi Jinping and President Putin to meet each other in this year, which will be of great significance to the planning of the development of China-Russia relations in the next phase, said Wang.

China is willing to enhance coordination with the Russian side in order to ensure that the visit will be successful and fruitful and inject strong impetus into the development of bilateral relations, he said.

For his part, Lavrov said Russia attaches great importance to President Putin's upcoming state visit to China.

Russia is pleased with the progress in preparations for the visit and stands ready to make joint efforts with China to ensure that the visit will meet its expected goals, said Lavrov.

During the talks, the Chinese foreign minister also said that faced with an ever-changing international landscape that is full of uncertainties, China and Russia, as comprehensive strategic partners of coordination, should further strengthen coordination and cooperation to uphold the fundamental principles of international relations, maintain international fairness and justice and protect the overall interests of emerging markets and developing countries.

China and Russia should make joint efforts to ensure that the SCO Qingdao Summit, which will be the first such summit after the SCO admitted new members, continues to promote the "Shanghai Spirit", achieve positive and practical outcomes and send out a message of solidarity, said Wang.

The two countries should strengthen strategic coordination on the platform of BRICS cooperation, hold well the Formal Meeting of the BRICS Ministers of Foreign Affairs and make good political preparations for the upcoming leaders' summit in July, Wang added.

Lavrov said that Russia fully agrees with China in its thoughts about the current international situation and is willing to strengthen coordination with China in multilateral mechanisms such as the SCO, BRICS cooperation, the Group of 20 and the United Nations.

Russia will make joint efforts with other emerging market countries to oppose unilateralism and protectionism and to safeguard world peace and stability, said Lavrov.

During their meeting, the two foreign ministers also exchanged views on the situation on the Korean Peninsula and agreed to further enhance coordination and cooperation to make efforts towards and contribute to the realization of a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula of lasting peace and stability.

Russia
Source: tass.com

QINGDAO /China/, June 10. /TASS/. The commitment of Moscow and Beijing to the development of bilateral relations is important not only for the two countries but also for the entire world, Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters at the end of his visit to China.

"The fact that we confirm the high level of our cooperation and emphasize the need to boost it, in my view, is very important for the current state of international relations and for Russian-Chinese ties," he said.

While summarizing his visit, Putin mentioned the documents that the two countries had signed. "We confirmed the high level of our relations with China and agreed - Chairman Xi Jinping and I signed a declaration on that - to boost cooperation in the area of politics and the fight against various threats," he said. The Russian leader pointed out that "this confirmation is very important because while we have a lot of everyday work to do, we should bear in mind the main areas of our cooperation." "It particularly includes cooperation on the international stage, within international organizations such as the UN, the G20, BRICS and the SCO," Putin elaborated.

He also mentioned Russia's economic cooperation with China and the signing of a feasibility study concerning the broad Eurasian partnership agreement. "Signing the agreement itself will take time as much work needs to be done here but it is the first step towards establishing a large regional economic union," Putin said, adding that this union "is compatible with the EAEU [the Eurasian Economic Union] that we have been developing and China's Silk Road initiative.".

South Africa
Source: www.sanews.gov.za

The five major emerging economies -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) grouping -- ended their meeting on Monday with a common voice on major issues on the international agenda.

From increased BRICS cooperation, security, economic, financial and sustainable development spheres, the grouping's foreign affairs ministers, who were meeting in Pretoria, came out with a united equal voice.

A communique issued after their second formal meeting, which was chaired by International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, first reflected on the importance of this year marking a decade of BRICS Summits. She said it was a testimony to the fortitude of BRICS cooperation and reiterated the commitment to implement the outcomes and consensus of past BRICS Summits.

"The ministers recalled the BRICS tradition of outreach to extend its cooperation to fellow developing and emerging economies," read the communique, issued at the end of the meeting, which was attended by Sisulu's counterparts - China's Wang Yi, Russia's Sergey Lavrov, India's Sushma Swaraj and Brazil's Marcos Galvão.

BRICS commitment to UN

The deliberations which Sululu described as "fruitful" reaffirmed BRICS commitment to the United Nations, as the universal multilateral organisation entrusted with the mandate for maintaining international peace and security, advancing global development and to promoting and protecting human rights so as to build a brighter shared future for the global community.

They recalled the 2005 World Summit Outcome document and reaffirmed the need for a comprehensive reform of the UN, including its Security Council, with a view to making it more representative, effective and efficient, and to increase the representation of the developing countries. This, the grouping believes, will allow the union to adequately respond to global challenges.

This pushed the BRICS to commit to intensifying dialogue amongst the BRICS countries on the administration and budget of the United Nations, with a view to strengthening the organization and preserving its Member State-driven character. "We stand firm on the importance and promotion of multilateralism with the UN and its bodies, notwithstanding the reform thereof, at the centre," Sisulu explained.

In addition to this, the BRICS ministers reaffirmed their commitment to multilateralism and a rules-based international order and in this regard reaffirmed the centrality of UN, WTO and international law by pledging their support to efforts towards making global governance more representative with greater participation of emerging markets and developing countries.

Free trade

On trade, they underlined their firm commitment to free trade, and the centrality of a rules-based, transparent, non-discriminatory, multilateral trading system (MTS) as embodied in the WTO by opposing the new wave of protectionism and the systematic impact of unilateral measures that are incompatible with WTO rules, and undermines global trade, and economic growth.

In this regard, they reiterated that the WTO Dispute Settlement System is a cornerstone of the MTS as it is designed to enhance security and predictability in international trade.

Global economic governance

"The Ministers reaffirmed their resolve to foster a global economic governance architecture that is more effective and reflective of the current global economic landscape, increasing the voice and representation of emerging markets and developing economies. They reaffirmed their commitment to conclude the IMF's 15th General Review of Quotas, including a new quota formula, by the 2019 Spring Meetings," reads the communique.

2030 Agenda, Climate change, global issues

With regards to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, they reaffirmed their commitment to implement the tenets in an equitable, inclusive, open, all-around innovation-driven and sustainable development, in its three dimensions – economic, social and environmental in a balanced and integrated manner.

They reaffirmed their commitment to tackling climate change. They welcomed the entry into force of the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Turning to global issues on the agenda, the four ministers condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and went on to urge concerted efforts to counter terrorism under the UN auspices.

Furthermore, they recalled the responsibility of all states to prevent financing of terrorist networks and terrorist actions from their territories.

They also raised the issue of the growing instability in the Middle East, amongst others, the Israel-Palestine situation, the crisis in Syria and Yemen, and the unfolding catastrophe in Afghanistan.

"Finding inclusive, peaceful, negotiated solutions to these conflicts is paramount. The same holds true for international terrorism. We recommitted ourselves to supporting the United Nations' central coordinating role in international counter-terrorism cooperation. We furthermore reaffirmed our commitment to an expeditious adoption of a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism," Sisulu added.

10th BRICS Summit

The meeting laid the foundation for the 10th BRICS Summit taking place in July under the theme "BRICS in Africa: Collaboration with Developing Countries for Inclusive Growth and Shared Prosperity in the 4th Industrial Revolution".

The theme resonates with the core priorities of all BRICS members, notably to strive towards the creation of an inclusive society and global partnerships that will bring prosperity to all humankind. - SAnews.gov.za

India
Source: www.mea.gov.in

Your Excellency Ms. Lindiwe Sisulu,
Excellency Mr. Marcos Bezerra Abbott Galvao,
Excellency Mr. Sergey Lavrov,
Excellency Mr. Wang Yi

At the outset, let me warmly welcome Minister Lindiwe Sisulu to the BRICS Family.

I also thank you, Mme. Sisulu for chairing this meeting and for your gracious hospitality and warm welcome to me and my delegation.

It is a rare privilege for me to be in this beautiful land of "Madiba", especially when we all are celebrating his birth centenary.

Ours' is one big global-family. Co-existence and shared destiny are our common beliefs. I am confident that the visions of our great leaders such as Gandhi, Mandela, and Martin Luther will continue to guide us in our common endeavours.

Excellencies,

The BRICS had begun with the Foreign Ministers' customary meeting on UNGA margins in 2006.

Ever since, we have had productive exchanges on the margins of UNGA in taking stock of global political affairs.

I commend South Africa for conveningthe 2nd Stand-alone meeting of BRICS Foreign Ministers.

I am confident, our deliberations here will contribute towards enriching intra-BRICS cooperation further.

Excellencies,

Our meeting today takes place at a time when multilateralism, international trade, and rules based world order face strong head-winds. Though, the global growth has exhibited signs of recovery, the challenges to long-term growth continue to persist. Ensuring that the benefits of globalization are shared widely remains a challenge.

BRICS countries have contributed to global stability and growth in a world drifting towards uncertainty.

We have played an important role in shaping the global economic and political architecture.

Excellencies,

BRICS cooperation has since expanded substantively in political, economic,and security spheres.

Our leaders meet twice each year at Summit level. BRICS NSAs mechanism has consolidated our cooperation in counter terrorism and security domain. BRICS Special Envoys are shortly expected to convene to deliberate the situation in the Middle East.

Excellencies,

During Goa BRICS Summit we had laid special emphasis in strengthening people dimension of BRICS.

I am happy to note, the initiatives during India's Chairmanship on films, sports, youth, and traditional-medicine have taken firm roots.

Excellencies,

BRICS Leaders gave us a robust mandate on counter terrorism at the Xiamen BRICS Summit.

PM Modi had given a call for a BRICS Counter-Terrorism Strategy for joint-action with a focus on money laundering, terrorist-finance, cyber-space and de-radicalization as our priorities.

Our leaders have also called for making UN Counter Terrorism framework efficient and effective. We reiterate our commitment to implement our Leaders' mandate on counter terrorism under South Africa's BRICS Chairship.

BRICS Cooperation in strategic areas of security, counter-terrorism, UN reforms, peacekeeping, de-radicalisation, cyber security, energy security, global governance, and international and regional hot-spot issues are deliberated in detail during our NSA's meetings.

It is imperative now that the common ground reached in our NSAs meeting on setting up a BRICS Security Forum is implemented fully.

Excellencies,

In less than two months from now our leaders will meet in Johannesburg for the 10th BRICS Summit.

Our deliberations today are, therefore, significant in preparing the groundwork for a successful Johannesburg BRICS Summit.

India welcomes South Africa's Summit theme devoted to Development in Africa in an Inclusive manner. We also welcome the focus on technology as the engine of future-growth and its significance for future generations and their employment prospects.

Mme. Chair,

I thank South Africa for tabling the proposals on tourism, medicines, governance, and science-park network. Yoga and Ayurveda system of India's traditional medicines will make BRICS tourism endeavours even more attractive.

The New Development Bank and the Contingent Reserve Arrangements are flagship BRICS initiatives.

We must consolidate their functioning further and optimize their outcomes.

Excellencies,

India attaches importance to the role of BRICS in consolidating intra-BRICS cooperation and in international affairs.

I am more than confident, under South Africa's able Chairship this initiative will be carried to new heights.

Excellencies,
I thank you.

India
Source: www.mea.gov.in

At the onset, let me express my sincere thanks to South Africa and Minister Sisulu for hosting this meeting in this beautiful city of Pretoria. It is a privilege to be in the land of Madiba in 2018 when we celebrate his 100th birth anniversary. I also feel privileged to attend the meeting in the building named after Oliver Tambo, the foremost Diplomat of our times.

I thank President of South Africa for sparing his time to meet all the BRICS Foreign Ministers. I also discussed India-South Africa bilateral relations with him. We have had a very successful meeting today under the able chairmanship of Minister Sisulu. India attaches great importance to its engagement with BRICS. We are all part of one global family.

BRICS brings together almost 42 percent of global population, with impressive growth, investment and trade share. BRICS meetings are keenly watched world over and our decisions have profound impact globally. In today's meeting we exchanged views on current issues of global significance in political, security, and economic spheres.

We also used to occasion to discuss ways and means to further strengthen intra-BRICS cooperation. There exists considerable potential for BRICS to take our cooperation to an even higher level. We appreciate initiatives being undertaken during South Africa's Chairmanship. We are supportive to the theme and priorities listed by South Africa for 2018.

Health & vaccines, Youth, Peacekeeping, Industrial Revolution, Tourism, Women issues and Science Technology & Innovation introduced by South Africa find positive resonance within BRICS.

India attaches great importance to placing people at the heart of BRICS process. I am happy to inform that in India there is a great interest among general public, academia, business as well as political spheres in BRICS. I am sure my colleagues here share the sentiment.

I feel very encouraged to see the response BRICS cooperation generates in South Africa. It is the collective affection and support by our peoples that will make BRICS bonding even stronger. In our meeting today, we discussed the need to further strengthen our cooperation in the areas of security and countering-terrorism.

You are all aware of strong statement on Counter Terrorism which emerged from BRICS Summit in Xiamen. I am sure the deliberations we have had in today's meeting will be further taken forward in the forthcoming BRICS Leaders' Summit in Johannesburg next month.

We are fully committed to contributing towards a successful Johannesburg BRICS Summit, which Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi is keenly looking forward to.

I once again thank Minister Sisulu for successful organisation of the BRICS meeting. Thank you.

South Africa
Author: Peter Fabricius
Source: www.dailymaverick.co.za

The foreign ministers of SA, Russia, China, India and Brazil decried the rise of nationalism and protectionism in the world.

US President Donald Trump seemed to be the elephant in the room when the foreign ministers of the five BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and SA) countries were meeting in Pretoria on Monday. They said they were meeting to affirm the importance of multinational solutions to global problems, at a time of growing nationalism, populism and trade protectionism in the world.

Trump is perhaps the prime architect of these trends though of course he is not the only one. The large new tariffs he has slapped on steel and aluminium imports, in particularly, are sparking a global trade war. He has also pulled the US out of the Paris climate accord and the deal struck by the US under his predecessor Barack Obama, with European powers and Iran to curb its nuclear weapons development.

Trump was not mentioned by name, at least in the public remarks by the BRICS ministers at the start of the meeting. But he was strongly implied.

The BRICS meeting in Pretoria is intended to prepare the agenda of a full summit in Johannesburg next month of the leaders of the five member states, South Africa, Brazil, Russia, China and India.

It will be the second BRICS summit hosted by South Africa which is chairing the body this year. Pretoria has launched initiatives on countering terrorism, co-operating in peacekeeping, joint production of vaccines and exploiting the fourth industrial revolution, as its contribution, as this year's chair of the forum of major emerging nations.

South Africa's Minister of International Relations and Co-operation Lindiwe Sisulu, who is chairing the meeting, noted that BRICS was happily starting the second decade of its existence in the centenary of former President Nelson Mandela's birth.

"The current global geo-political realities make a meeting of this nature not only necessary but timely," she said. "We meet in the face of multilateralism under siege: when the integrity of international agreements can be hastily and expediently compromised: when more and more countries take an inward-looking position at the expense of others.

"South Africa remains deeply committed to multilateral diplomacy, in principle and in our demonstrable actions- and we hold true to this stance in the United Nations system; in our regional interactions; and in particular through our close collaboration in BRICS."

Sisulu added that BRICS was meeting at a time of seismic changes in the world, including the strife in Turkey, migration to Europe, the intensification of the conflict between Israel and Palestine and "the re-emergence of national protectionism that threatens multilateralism".

She stressed that South Africa represented the interests of Africa in BRICS.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said BRICS tried to build trust and predictability in the world, to seek solutions which "de-ideologised" global problems such as terrorism, drug-trafficking and climate change.

BRICS believed in sticking to the UN Charter, in avoiding unilateral interference in the internal affairs of nations and in seeking diplomatic and political rather than military solutions to global problems.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Li agreed that BRICS was more important than ever now to counter unilateralism- which he characterised as "the law of the jungle" which he said was growing in the world.

Brazilian vice foreign minister Marcos Galvão said BRICS was a coalition to help equip global governance institutions with the means to deal with global issues. He said that the aim of BRICS was not to compete with other international government institutions but to complement them and make them more representative.

Some critics had said that the BRICS members were too diverse to transform political discourse into concrete policy-making. On the contrary, he said, BRICS allowed common problems to be approached from several different angles.

Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj said the BRICS member states must consolidate the functioning of its New Development Bank and its contingency arrangement for providing each other with balance of payments support in their own currencies, where this was required.

Sthe Mabanga, executive chairman of the Johannesburg-based BRICS Journal, said he believed the July summit would discuss, among many other issues, the sanctions imposed by Western nations against Russia for its military invasion and occupation of Crime.

Mabanga thought the leaders would look for ways of navigating around the sanctions to prevent other BRICS nations being damaged by them.

BRICS has several other issues on its agenda, including cyber-security, energy security, co-operation in tourism, forging a science-park network, countering money laundering and furthering the UN's Agenda 2030 through the Sustainable Development Goals.

Security issues clearly loom large, judging by the remarks of Swaraj and others. Officials said the national security advisers of the five member states would meet towards the end of the month, probably in Durban, also to prepare for the summit from 25-27 July.

Lavrov met President Cyril Ramaphosa separately on Sunday and was due to hold a bilateral meeting with Sisulu on Monday afternoon.DM

Palestine
Source: www.middleeastmonitor.com

Israel's colonisation of Palestine has altered the dynamics of politics and expectation to one of permanent exploitation and compromise. The two-state compromise, in particular, has ensnared governments, as well as many prominent institutions and groups to the point that opportunities for Palestinians to define their aims from within their own history and rights have almost been depleted.

On Tuesday, foreign ministers from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) met in Pretoria, South Africa, ahead of the 10th BRICS summit which will be held in July. The final statement following the meeting echoed South Africa's demand last March, that Palestine should be a priority on the BRICS agenda. However, paying mere lip-service to a legitimate demand is harming Palestine's prospects, rather than enhancing opportunities for anti-colonial, legitimate resistance.

On their part the BRICS statement as published by Wafa news agency calls for creating "an independent, viable, territorially contiguous Palestinian state living side-by-side in peace and security with Israel. The minister reiterated that the status of Jerusalem is one of the final status issues to be defined in the context of negotiations between Israel and Palestine".

There is no point in pretending to make Palestine a priority when statements convey otherwise. The BRICS rhetoric is identical to that regurgitated routinely by the UN, the Middle East Quartet, the EU and the majority of governments around the world. Increasingly, Palestine is becoming an agenda item to be discussed within the context of normalising colonisation. This is creating an abyss in which many forms of activism are falling prey to unsustainable campaigning, while Palestinians are marginalised from their own story, forced to compromise on their own aspirations for liberation and purportedly supported by entities that prioritise Israel's security within the context of creating a hypothetical Palestinian state.

From this meeting, it is important to place emphasis upon the fact that BRICS supports the two-state compromise. Putting Palestine on the agenda has been a brief spectacle, the likes of which are seen almost daily and which portray the discrepancy between words and action. Worst of all, a consensus among international actors has now been generated that follows convenience, rather than rights.

There is no differentiation within these circles between "Palestine" and "agenda items". The underlying motive is to maintain Israel's status by defining Palestine's options from the fabricated colonial narratives. Since historic Palestine belongs to Palestinians, the indigenous population should be leading the strategy for liberation, after which peace can be discussed. Tethering the status of Jerusalem to international agreements and debates has resulted in Israel laying claims over Jerusalem, unilaterally supported by the US.

The ultimate hypocrisy is international insistence upon the two-state paradigm when it has been declared obsolete. Speaking over Palestinians to annihilate their voice – to the point that any possible diplomatic alternative can trace its origins back to the prevailing corrupted compromise – has become the norm. The political option for Palestinians lies in aiding their anti-colonial resistance, which the international community has ruled out through its insistence that Palestinians subjugate themselves to definitions concocted to appease Israel.

Keeping this in mind, is it not time that obligations are analysed from a Palestinian perspective? BRICS, like other entities, is merely concerned with replicating the vacuum of symbolism for Palestinians and paving the way for Israel's "Greater Israel" project. There is no obligation for Palestinians to abide by any international demands other than the legitimacy of anti-colonial resistance. Upon international institutions and governments, there is no obligation other than to stand by their declaration to end colonialism. The latter is a farce – since 1990, the UN General Assembly has declared three decades "for the Eradication of Colonialism". It is also an example of what Palestine is up against and how words are divested of their meanings to incorporate everything and nothing according to power.

Faced with the existence of an international community that is overtly dedicated to safeguarding colonialism, Palestinians have no obligation to anyone but themselves and their legitimate claims to historic Palestine.

Russia
Author: Kester Kenn Klomegah
Source: www.thepatrioticvanguard.com

Russia and South Africa have recently stepped up efforts towards finalizing "the most significant issues" relating to the 10th edition of BRICS Summit scheduled to take place from 25-27 July in Johannesburg, South Africa.

According to official documents, BRICS is an informal association of five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The group, founded in June 2006 at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), first known as BRIC prior to inclusion of South Africa in 2009. It has yearly rotating chairmanship among its five members.

After Jacob Zuma's resignation in February, Russian President Vladimir Putin has maintained very close working contact and cooperation with the new South African leader Cyril Ramaphosa. The Kremlin speaks about a very high strategic level of partnership while praising the joint activities of the two countries in the area of foreign politics, in particular within the United Nations, BRICS (an association of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).

In mid-May, Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov, meeting with South African Deputy President David Mabuza, expressed high optimism when he said: "Our presidents talked not so long ago, on March 23. They agreed to continue a course toward the comprehensive development of our relations in all areas. And, of course, we agreed to have a special meeting during the BRICS summit to take place in Johannesburg at the end of July."

In his remarks, Mabuza thanked Lavrov and handed him a special message from the South African president addressed to Russian President Vladimir Putin which experts interpreted as part of the preparations towards the next BRICS summit. As protocol demands, Mabuza did not disclose its contents. Instead, Mabuza laid emphasis on his country's interest in enhancing foreign policy coordination with Russia and praised its consistent line of principle on supporting the efforts of the African community to find consensus-based solutions to the continent's political and socio-economic issues.

On May 17, as a follow-up to a series of consultations on the summit, Deputy Foreign Minister and Russia's BRICS, Sherpa Sergey Ryabkov, also met with Ambassador of South Africa to the Russian Federation, Nomasonto Maria Sibanda-Thusi. During that meeting, Ryabkov reaffirmed Russia's readiness to provide all the necessary support to its South African friends in holding a successful BRICS summit.

The officials had a mutually engaging discussion on a number of issues on the broad agenda of multifaceted cooperation within BRICS. Both sides expressed confidence that during South Africa's BRICS presidency the group will make great strides in strengthening strategic partnership in all three key areas of the organisation's focus: peace and security, economy and finance, and cultural and humanitarian ties.

Brics-Africa Dialogue
Russia is very instrumental in deepening constructive dialogue between BRICS and African countries, including through the "BRICS Plus" mechanism. This year, the chairmanship plans to invite Africans to the 10th anniversary BRICS summit in Johannesburg.

Early March, Foreign Minister Lavrov reiterated in an interview with the pan-African monthly Hommes d'Afrique magazine in the run-up to his tour of African countries: "We support deepening the BRICS-Africa dialogue, which was launched in Durban in 2013 during the meeting between the association's member-countries, the African Union leadership and the leaders of eight leading regional integration associations."

"We believe that the 'BRICS Plus' concept approved last year lays the foundation for making the practice of inviting chairpersons of the African Union and, possibly, other African regional associations to the BRICS summits systemic," he explained.

As South Africa has taken over BRICS chairmanship, Lavrov is particularly pleased to note that "our South African friends intend to make African issues part of the BRICS agenda, discuss the key problems and challenges facing the continent," he said. "For our part, we welcome this approach."

NDB Financed Projects
The BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) and Business Council are two significant features, among others, of BRICS group. The NDB finances projects while the main tasks of the Business Council is to identify problems and difficulties, which hinder growth of economic, trade, business and investment cooperation between BRICS countries.

The bank's first non-sovereign project was a $200 million loan to Brazil's Petrobras for an environmental protection scheme and the second a $200 million loan to South Africa's Transnet to reconstruct a port in Durban. The NDB has also extended funds for projects in Karelia, Russia. The NDB is currently considering to extend another substantial loan for two projects in Russia - the Amur gas processing plant (GCP) and the petrochemical plant in Tobolsk - by the year-end, according to the Russian Finance Ministry.

As expected, African leaders and Experts believe that the NDB pays particular attention to the viable projects on African continent. "The New Development Bank is just starting its operation but it will soon work in full swing," Lavrov explained. "Projects discussed at the initial stage pertain only to the territory of five BRICS countries. Potential projects outside BRICS is the next stage. However, special attention will be clearly paid to the African continent because an office of the BRICS New Development Bank will be situated in South Africa."

The agreement on establishing the BRICS New Development Bank concluded on July 15, 2014 in Brazil's Fortaleza. The bank's starting capital was set at $100 bn. The Shanghai-headquartered bank has been set up to finance infrastructure projects and sustainable development projects in BRICS member countries and in other developing countries.

Future Steps
On June 4, the BRICS Council of Foreign Ministers held a meeting in Pretoria, South Africa. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs report that meeting was largely aimed at outlining significant tasks for future and that include a wide range of issues pertaining to the maintenance of international peace and stability, the global economy, interaction between the BRICS countries and the coordination of their positions in the complicated conditions of global political turbulence.

There were in-depth talks on the situation in the world's trouble spots and common goals in the face of new challenges and threats, primarily efforts against international terrorism and for international information security.

One of Russia's priorities is to promote strategic partnership among the BRICS countries. Over the past years, this group of five large rising economies has developed from an interest club into a comprehensive mechanism of multifaceted strategic partnership. The group has developed a network of industry-specific cooperation, contacts and cooperation between their business and research communities and civil societies.

The five BRICS countries are working towards indivisible security, stronger international stability in all dimensions, collective efforts to settle crises by political and diplomatic means, and multilateralism. They reject military interventions, unilateral economic enforcement measures, protectionism and unfair competition. The BRICS countries are working together to protect the system of multilateral trade based on the central role of the WTO as the only universal platform for formulating the rules of global trade.

The BRICS countries are working to find new sources of economic growth. The group played a major role in promoting the reform of the IMF. It has created the New Development Bank and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement to help modernise the architecture of global governance and financial security.

The five BRICS countries support the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
The BRICS countries focused on consolidating and diversifying the mechanisms of multifaceted cooperation and finding new spheres of cooperation. BRICS is open to the world and consistently expanding its ties with concerned countries and integration associations.

The BRICS member countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) collectively represent about 26% of the world's geographic area and are home to 2.88 billion people, about 42% of the world's population. Report.

Russia
Author: Victoria V. Panova
Source: www.e-ir.info

All the BRICS countries are either at a major turning point or going through various processes of political, economic, and social transformations and speculations of various degrees continue of how each internal or external process will influence the whole of the BRICS grouping. Among other issues, it is worth considering recent elections in Russia and the course set for the country, which became clearer not just with the elections themselves – hardly anyone doubted the outcome – but rather with the appointment of the new government. Stability and continuity, the two words appropriate for description.

This year is the jubilee year for BRICS – this is the end of the second hosting cycle, when the latest-coming South Africa has come out as the chair of the group. Over the years, the BRICS has also become more orderly and got established rules of its own: settled the presidency periods, reached the status of global agenda setter, established its own outreach formats and gained reputation among the developing countries. On the one hand, at the time, global and internal fluctuations are believed to have the BRICS shuttering. On the other hand, it is exactly the flexible "club" format, that allows the group to survive temporary ups and downs caused by a variety of factors. That said, it is high time to look into the state of affairs of the grouping before the 10thSummit takes place later this year in Johannesburg.

What is it that we see in each of the BRICS countries, as mentioned earlier and opposing to what was seen at the beginning as their common ground – different paces of moving forward into the global agenda and varying degrees of internal and external political confidence. The quite solid position of the leadership in Russia, China or India stands out, even if all, especially the first two to a different extent, are involved in the global competition and economic and/or politico-military confrontation with the group of the rich developed countries, the so called Golden Billion. At the same time, we see relatively uncertain cases for Brazil and South Africa with regards to their path forward due to internal fluctuations.

Brazil

Ongoing crisis around Brazilian domestic politics, that came in open fire after the ousting of Dilma Rousseff, the weak position of Michel Temer's government, and more so – ongoing judicial procedure against Lula da Silva, a former president, and his continuing resolve to run for the next elections even counter to court decision – leave the once almost undoubted Latin American leader on a shaky path with an unclear future. This could lead to extra challenges for the BRICS, which is to be hosted by Brazil next year and is vulnerable to neglect and low profile if the situation does not stabilize by the end of this presidential term. This could have been hedged by the Sherpa and MFA team, allowing for business as usual, no matter who comes out as the leader of the country. But not in the case of Brazil, which has overwhelmingly conservative officers in the Ministry and is rather oriented for cooperation with IBSA (India, Brazil, and South Africa Forum) and the West with lower priority given to BRICS issues.

South Africa

The situation in South Africa, with the resignation of Jacob Zuma in February and the incoming of the new President, Cyril Ramaphosa, has its own difficulties. While the new President is seen as the champion of the fight against corruption and someone able to lead long-awaited reforms, the current economic situation in the country does not give much optimism – the country is found in the situation of practical stagnation with 1.1% of maximum growth to be reached in 2018, according to the World Bank estimates; 10% of the 55-million population has control over 90% of the country's wealth, etc.[1] At the same time, the change of power itself does not seem, so far, to have much of an effect on the BRICS chairing, with the continuation of all the main formats and the priority agenda being rather forward looking. The topic of the Summit remained focused on inclusive growth and shared prosperity in the age of the 4th Industrial Revolution – center stage of global deliberations. The South African presidency aims to launch a number of new cooperation schemes, including a working group on peacekeeping, new initiatives on health management, as well as fostering the topic of women empowerment. All of those issues were kept for consideration, but the resulting document and resolve to pursue the decisions reached are to be evaluated later when first results come to fruition. It probably brought a little less certainty about a number of newer outreach formats (Women outreach is still in the making) and expectations of a more cautious stance of the new President.

China & India

At the same time, the internal political situation in the other three BRICS states is of more stability and predictability, which ensures sustainable foreign policies as well. The decision to remove the limitations on the duration of tenure of the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, this March did not cause much international negative reaction. On the contrary, for example, President Trump called this move "great" and even mentioned the possibility to "give it a shot one day" in the USA. The next parliamentary elections in India are foreseen for 2019, while the strong position of Narendra Modi and last year's Presidential elections, which led to the victory of Ram Nath Kovind (someone starting from an underprivileged section of society and the Dalite), only strengthened Modi's populist stance supported by efficient economic policies. Today, both China and India compete for the first places in the world economic ratings – if rated by PPP, China's GDP stands first and India third globally.

Russia

Russia recently went through its Presidential elections and the appointment of the new, but in a way old, government. Vladimir Putin's victory in the elections was hardly a surprise for anyone either inside or outside the country. While there were some expectations of new faces in the government, this, rather, would have had internal implications and could barely influence outcomes of the main international events. What we are to see is the obvious continuity of international communications of President Putin – the foundation of his policies remains stability and sustainability – both internally, and externally especially since he could allow this, due to wide support he himself and his policies have by the Russian population. This support stems from a state of stability as the opposite feature of chaos that was seen in Russia economically and socially in the 1990s; the same feature of stability applies to foreign relations of Russia with the other countries. While in order to achieve political détente with the West there will be the need of explicit concessions on both sides, we are unlikely to witness serious breakthroughs in the short-term. It is also seen as good to have the same President at times of need of consolidation against pressures from the non-friendly Western countries, mostly featuring Anglo-Saxon world.

At the same time, the Russian President is here to demonstrate positive continuity as well. While it will take ten times as much efforts on both sides to overcome existing confrontation with the West, it is much easier for Putin to continue deepening relations with the leaders of the rising rest, especially the ones he established great relations with during his earlier term (and as we know, clubs are mostly about trust and good personal relations among its leaders). Another very important aspect, relevant for the strength and efficiency of any international club, is the strength and internal legitimacy of country member's leaders, which offers good prospects for the BRICS to have their decisions implemented.

We have the two strong leaders of Russia and China having friendly personal relations (the best example cited was the presenting of Russian ice-cream to Chairman Xi, who is a big fan of this desert). Both are confronted by the American superpower, both eager to bring bilateral relations to new heights, and contribute to safeguarding a multifaceted global order featured by multiculturalism, stability, and diversity, both active in promoting international institutions that are able to promote alternative views from all actors present on the scenario.

Implications for the BRICS

We have pragmatic and wise Indian Prime-Minister Modi, who proved unwilling to be played as the trump card against the current American-designated Chinese opponent. Obviously, difficulties between the two countries experience in territorial and maritime issues is often seen as the most possible scenario to start skirmishes between the two giants. Nevertheless, the two countries have had a very productive series of meetings and outcomes in the recent Shangai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit, which proved those hopes from the West for rising confrontations futile. Russia and India at the same time have a smoother path of friendship not overshadowed by serious misunderstandings of political or military kind (although there are issues like Pakistan or too close relations with China that bother Indian counterparts). While there is still existent dominance of the political agenda over the economic one, with the two leaders in power, we see the gradual upscaling of business ties of the two countries[2]. Even though economic and trade cooperation needs further impetus to get a real go. Personal relations of the two leaders also remain very warm, having personal encounters not just within multilateral groupings, but meetings for the bilateral agenda as well. That said, nothing is bound to hamper fostering further relations within the BRICS, the G20, or the SCO by the newly reelected President Putin and the two Asian giants.

Could the same be claimed of the other two partners, mentioned in the beginning, the ones experiencing political unrest and in the process of uncertain transformation from previously very pro-BRICS leaders to someone unknown?

Here we see two main components to discuss – relations with Russia of BRICS partners, on the one hand, and the attitude towards the BRICS as a phenomenon, on the other hand. Brazil seems to be more in conundrum and in need of settling its internal affairs first, without taking sides within the ongoing global divide, at least until we see the final outcome and the possibility of Lula da Silva to return to power or of another strong candidate, able to consolidate the country, to emerge. Relations of the two Presidents – Russian and South African – are still to be seen, but there is one thing that needs to be remembered. Indeed, currently, pro-Western media in South Africa has an ongoing really severe anti-Russian campaign.[3] Indeed, President Ramaphosa is from the Forbes list and is closely engaged with big transnationals like McDonald's or Coca-Cola. But at the same time, Cyril Ramaphosa used to be one of the activists of the anti-apartheid movement, and most of the people who were part of this struggle remember well the role of different countries in this process, as well as the contribution of the Soviet Union towards the attainment of their long-awaited goal to have their own country for themselves, but not for the ruling minority.

If we talk about the importance of the BRICS as an entity, this wouldn't have changed no matter what the personal or ideological changes within the ruling elites in the five countries are. BRICS is the global club, that allows its member-countries to have a louder voice in the international arena and offers additional benefits (but also responsibilities) of first-tier global players. Will anyone be willing to give this up? Personal views of political elites could be different, while reality offers us ten years of BRICS together and even more consolidated than other comparable institutions, if judged by real achievements (enough to cite the New Development Bank launch). Thus, if we remember the first decade of the G7 existence back in the 1970s-1980s, when those seven countries, having very similar political and ideological systems and bonds, couldn't arrive at tangible economic cooperation schemes (it should also be mentioned, that this first period of time, five of the seven countries of the club retained exclusive finance ministers meeting, not allowing Italy and Canada in until mid-1980s).

BRICS is and will remain an important factor of global politics championing inclusivity, sustainability, fairness, and incremental reform in the interest of the world community as a whole. While like any other international body it will continue to live through waves of higher and lower relevance for its members and the outside world, as well as varying degrees of internal integrity, determined by subjective (e.g. personal interactions of the leaders, their position vis-à-vis the rest of the world, etc.) and objective (phase of economic development, technological patterns, etc.) factors. BRICS has by now turned into a brand. This brand imposes responsibility on its members to respond to global challenges and serves the interests of the global community – the case when collective brand influences the individual brands of each country making it impossible for each of them, individually, to fail their collective responsibility and collective role. Russia with Putin as its leader, as well as China with Xi as its leader, as well as any other of the five countries are no exception to the case – long-term evolution of the BRICS and its role for the global community is to remain constant positive trend.

Notes

[1] World Bank data available here. World Bank predicts just 1.1% GDP growth for SA in 2018. More information and data on South African economy could be found in "YUAR: uspekhi I problemy razvitiya" (South Africa: successes and problems of development), January 2018.

[2] Even though we could cite recent rise in cooperation between Russian and Indian companies, like that of Rosneft and ONGC Videsh Ltd., Tata Power signing agreement with the Russian government on investments into the Russian Far East, quadrilateral cooperation with the KGK Group etc. Alexander Galushka interview to Economic Times, January 11, 2016.

[3] One of the vivid examples would be Sunday Times publication on alleged intervention into the reshuffle of the South African cabinet. "Russian Foreign Ministry comment regarding an item from South Africa's Sunday Times titled 'From Russia with love: How Putin had a hand in Cabinet reshuffle'", November 1, 2017.

China
Source: www.xinhuanet.com

PRETORIA, June 4 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday called for more collective efforts by the five BRICS countries -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- to promote global peace and stability.

Wang made the appeal at the Formal Meeting of the BRICS Ministers of Foreign Affairs, which was presided over by South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Lindiwe Sisulu and also attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Brazil's Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Marcos Galvao.

The top agenda of the foreign ministers' meeting is to lay the groundwork for the 10th BRICS summit to be held in Johannesburg in July.

In his remarks, the Chinese foreign minister pointed out that the world is witnessing unprecedented changes in a century.

Under the circumstances, the BRICS should demonstrate an even broader strategic vision, more powerful collective efforts and a stronger will to shoulder responsibilities to bring more welfare to the people and make greater contribution to world peace and development, he said.

Wang said that the BRICS should serve as the powerful engine of global economic growth, providing a lasting driving force.

They should make joint efforts to build an open world economy, oppose trade protectionism and unilateralism, and safeguard common interests and development space, he said.

The BRICS should be the central pillar of strength providing powerful underlying support for world peace and stability, he stressed.

In light of the current situation, the BRICS should especially jointly stick to multilateralism and uphold the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and maintain international fairness and justice, he said.

He also called on the BRICS to expand cultural and people-to-people exchanges and actively promote exchanges and cooperation with non-BRICS emerging markets and developing countries so as to enlarge the circle of friends and strengthen the BRICS' influence and appeal.

Participants at the meeting spoke highly of the remarkable progress achieved in the past decade of BRICS cooperation, and highly appreciated China's important contribution to BRICS cooperation after it served as chair last year.

As the international landscape is undergoing complicated changes, they said, the BRICS should further strengthen coordination and cooperation, deepen strategic partnership, jointly stick to multilateralism, oppose unilateralism and protectionism and maintain the fundamental norms of international relations.

They also pledged all-out efforts to support and coordinate with South Africa in the preparations for the 10th BRICS summit to ensure its success.

South Africa
Source: www.dirco.gov.za

Honourable State Councillor Mr Wang Yi, State Councillor and Minister of Foreign Affairs of China
Honourable Minister Mr Sergey Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia
Honourable Minister Ms Sushma Swaraj, Minister of External Affairs of India
Honourable Ambassador Marcos Galvão, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brazil

Delegations of the BRICS Countries here present

Ladies and Gentlemen

It is my sincere honour to welcome you to South Africa on the eve of the Second Formal Meeting of the BRICS Ministers of Foreign Affairs/International Relations. Honourable Ministers, your presence here re-affirms and strengthens the long-standing bonds of friendship and cooperation we have built in the decade of our strategic partnership.

Over the last 10 years, the BRICS Agenda has evolved and expanded beyond the economic focus that initially brought us together, to also include global political, security and social matters.

There can be no doubt that our shared commitment to BRICS will bear fruit and we will make advances in confronting our common challenges and realising our common objectives for peace, harmony and greater representation in global governance institutions.

Following the successful First Formal of Meeting of the BRICS Ministers of Foreign Affairs and International Relations, organised by the People's Republic of China last year, I think we can all agree that there is a need for the continuation of a meeting of this nature. We should acknowledge the initiative as a very sound one that has given us more time to plan better and work closer. Through this Forum, we are uniquely poised to make further concrete contributions to BRICS cooperation through our deliberations.

Furthermore, the current global geo-political realities make a meeting of this nature, not only necessary but timely. We meet in the face of multilateralism under siege; when the integrity of international agreements can be hastily and expediently compromised; when more and more countries take an inward-looking position at the expense of others. South Africa remains deeply committed to multilateral diplomacy, in principle and in our demonstrable actions – and we hold true to this stance in the United Nations system; in our regional interactions, as and in particular through our close collaboration in BRICS.

The BRICS Forum must reassert its collective responsibility of providing new perspectives and solutions to the current international order. As we work collectively, not only in our interest but in also advancing the interests of our shared global community, we must do so with a view to protect the sacred and shared values of multilateralism and international law that underpin our union.

We meet at a time when the world is undergoing serious seismic changes in many spheres. The strife in Turkey, the migration to Europe, the intensification of conflict between Israel and Palestine and the re-emergence of national protectionism that threatens multilateralism. Against these challenges we each face our own national challenges and our own continental challenges. We have earned our place of pride in this august body to represents the broader interests of the peoples and countries of the African continent.

The evolving world in which we live requires of us to keep track with its multifaceted and dynamic changes. We are also beholden to our resolutions and ensuring that we realise them in this changing world. This year will mark the tenth anniversary of the establishment of BRICS, new multilateral forum that holds the hope of most developing countries.

It is fortuitous for South Africa to hold the Chairship of this august Forum, and to have the responsibility of hosting the 10th BRICS Summit in this year that coincides with the Centenary commemoration of a world icon, former President Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. Throughout the year, we will honour the life and legacy of our leader, a distinguished global statesman and father of our nation. We are excessively proud that out of a deplorable inhuman system, we produced one as he. The life of this remarkable human being urges us to recall that nothing is impossible to achieve, no matter the magnitude of the task and irrespective of how daunting it may seem at the time.

South Africa's BRICS Chairship in 2018 is thus anchored in this belief. We intend to build on the legacy of Madiba, as well as on the achievements of the past decade of BRICS Summits in order to further enhance BRICS cooperation in the next decade that will guide our countries and peoples, as well as those of the Global South into the new era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in a way that maximises opportunities and minimises threats, and especially in an era where we all seek prosperity for all, inclusivity, equality, good governance and economic development.

We remain conscious, however, that the prospects of inclusive growth and shared prosperity that we strive for, cannot, and will not, be realised in the absence of lasting regional and international peace and security.

Colleagues, I am encouraged that this platform has gained momentum, and I am excited that we are hosting it. We are committed to make the Summit worthy of what our peoples collectively expect from us. I look forward to our robust deliberations.

I would now like to call upon Honourable Minister Mr Sergey Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia.

I thank you

India
Author: Vicky Nanjappa
Source: www.oneindia.com

India would push the BRICS nations to define terrorism during its annual summit. India is making this move to reflect its concerns over cross-border terrorism and the issue would be taken up at the summit to be held at Johannesburg in July.

India would look to get the BRICS nations to define terrorism. If it is successful then it would be a major victory for India. However looking at how things have shaped up at the UN in the past years, it would not be easy for India to get its way through. If it does then it would be a major diplomatic victory.

Defining terrorism is not easy. The United Nations has not been able to do it. In 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had raised a similar point at the United Nations. This is however not the first time that this issue has been raised. It has been several times in the past and has always fallen flat on the logic," your terrorist is my freedom fighter."

The UN had said on October 7, 2005, by its 6th committee that it has not been able to define terrorism. Take for instance the killing Hadeel al-Hashlamun, a 19-year-old girl at Hebron check-post on September 22, 2015. The Palestinians termed it as Israel sponsored terrorism. However Israel termed it as an act of self-defence.

When the UN was known as the League of Nations, following the 1934 assassination of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia in Marseilles by Croatian and Macedonian separatists, France proposed that the League should adopt a comprehensive convention on terrorism. This was done on November 16, 1937.

However, it restricted 'terrorism' only to anti-state acts by defining it as 'criminal acts directed against a state and intended or calculated to create a state of terror in the minds of particular persons or a group of persons or the general public'. The league went on to ask its members to pass national laws.

In the 1970s, Libyan ruler Muammar el- Qaddafi opened camps to help what he called freedom struggles by the Irish Republican Army, Basque separatists, Italian Red Brigades and Palestinian groups. Other powers such as the US called it terrorism. The US notified Libya as a sponsor of terrorism. Sanctions were imposed.

However, Libya was removed from that list when Qaddafi stopped aiding these 'freedom fighters'. That, however, did not prevent the US and others from organising an uprising in Libya from 2011 through non-state actors to remove Qaddafi. Paul Pillar, former CIA analyst has said that this had only 'worsened chaos' in the region.

The expert take:

Experts are of the view that there are several reasons why the UN has not been able to do so. The UN had drawn up 14 legal instruments in which it had described what constituted individual acts of terror.

The 1963 Tokyo convention on in flight safety and the convention against hijacking in 1970 were drawn up. In 2010, an additional protocol (Beijing protocol) was added to this convention. In 1971, another convention was passed to reinforce air travel security on the recommendation of the Montreal based International Civil Aviation Organisation. In the same year, diplomats were protected under a special convention.

This was necessitated by a spate of attacks on the diplomatic missions of the United States, the United Kingdom, Israel and Cuba during 1971-1972. In 1979, hostage taking was prohibited. Between 1980 and 2005, there were 8 more legal instruments that were drawn up for the safety of nuclear material, prevention of airport violence, safety of maritime navigation and fixed platforms (oil drills), prevention of plastic explosives, terrorist bombings and terrorist financing.

Post 9/11, the UN Security Council passed Resolution No: 1373 on September 28, 2001 calling upon all members to implement the above 14 legal instruments. The UN Drug Control and Crime Prevention Secretariat was given the nodal role in monitoring compliance. Since 2000, the UN Ad Hoc Committee has been examining a draft paper on Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism -- including a common definition.

Russia
Source: www.alleuropalux.org

It's getting harder and harder to stay in good mental health if you follow international news flow. Each day brings us more stories of deadly clashes, barbaric violence, unprovoked use of lethal force, and more newly cooked yet half-baked fake news. We regularly find out about the introduction of new sanctions, restrictions on international economic activities and limitations imposed on mass media, trade wars and provocations of all kinds. Global conflicts, unrest and turbulences once again prove that the initiative of establishing and developing BRICS was a timely decision of strategic value. Step by step, BRICS managed to evolve into an essential pillar of the contemporary world; became an island of stability in the troubled waters of international relations; showing an acceptable path towards new solidarity and mutual respect among nations. Time has come for BRICS to play a more prominent role in solving global problems and serve the purpose of promoting development worldwide.

1. Strengthening cooperation within BRICS is the best solution to mitigate trade wars, protectionism, unfair competition and the overall general worsening of international economic & political relations.

Originally, when establishing BRICS the first three, four and then five member-states aspired for a very simple and noble cause. They joined forces, pooled knowledge and capabilities in order to protect their sovereignty and independence more efficiently, to make their voices better heard in international and global affairs, and to foster their internal economic, political and social development based on mutual respect and recognition of their specificities. These are entirely legitimate tasks, fair and logical, compatible in all their aspects with the aims and principles of the United Nations Charter and contemporary international law. Recent situation in BRICS countries has shown that achieving these goals is feasible and attainable. Coordination of efforts, activities and policies of the member-states on a wide variety of issues produced positive impact on the development and stability in the world, the ongoing international negotiations and the functioning of international organizations.

Nevertheless, results could have been more impressive if the cooperation among BRICS members was stronger and deeper. BRICS could also achieve more, if its members were less susceptible to the influence of ideologically driven fake narratives, invented and promoted by the political and expert establishment of the USA and the European Union. If it were the case, then BRICS nations would have succeeded in advancing their own vision on how the world should be organized, developed and managed. It served the interests of the American and the EU political and business elite to convince all other international actors that the unipolar world and the liberal order was the only possible choice. It provided them with the set of arguments allowing labeling those in opposition to their unilateralism, intervention in the internal affairs of other states and inclination to adventurism as revanchists or opportunist powers, and anti-systemic players.

This concept was obviously false from the very beginning to the end. The contemporary system of global balance of interests, upheld by the UN Charter, vested exclusive responsibility for preventing the use of force in international relations and imposition of coercive measures to the Security Council consisting of 15 members, five of which have veto prerogatives in the decision taking procedure. The Council cannot function as a unipolar entity. The ambition to beсome a global self-proclaimed prosecutor, judge and executioner, all at the same time, contradicts the basics of contemporary international law. It is absurd to insist that the world is unipolar when nuclear deterrence is in the hands of several different key superpowers and middle-sized states. However, while the insistence that the world is drifting from a unipolar to a multipolar system and the liberal world order is challenged and is in deep crisis, BRICS and other nations silently followed and abided by the artificially imposed concepts mentioned above. Reproducing these ideological stereotypes would be a great mistake. It's in the best interest of all BRICS countries to promote the actual state of affairs, and that is: the world has always been multipolar and the liberal order is just a socioeconomic cluster on par with many others.

Now there is this new narrative of a spreading chaos in the world, engulfing the existing system of international relations, which is followed by another fairy tale, claiming that 'the rule-based international system is definitely at risk"[1] or even gone. Under the new circumstances, it makes sense to have a free hand in international politics, enhance your superiority and force others to follow your orders instead of respecting the commandments of contemporary international law. This approach must be vehemently opposed. In order to effectively counter this self-serving egocentric logic, BRICS countries have to develop their own narrative calling for fair, inclusive and democratic world order, they need to move forward and foster their cooperation in accordance with these notions everywhere it could benefit them and all other nations.

2. Previous aid for development strategies turned up to be inefficient, biased and inconsistent.

Few would dare to pronounce it in public, but many people in Afghanistan share a common opinion that Russia (Soviet Union at that time) did a lot to develop different industries and education system of the country. In any case, it did much more than the international coalition that settled in the country in this century supposedly to fight Taliban. Same is true of China's infrastructural and industrial projects in Africa. People from all parts of the Black Continent admit that recent Chinese projects made a much greater contribution to the economic development of their countries than all the former colonial powers, which now are part of the European Union, and the USA for more than seven decades when they were reportedly engaged in providing international development assistance.

Left-wing socialist scholars from the EU countries very well explained this phenomenon. Western countries in order to prop up the existing political regimes under their control and to promote only some sectors in agriculture, natural resources extraction and industrial production that were beneficial to their own economies used the so-called "assistance". In addition, their companies thus ensured easy access to the internal markets of developing countries. International corporations are bigger, more efficient and competitive than local ones; they have more financial resources and rely on cheap financing as well as political protection from their governments. The consequences of these end-result disproportions are well known. They marginalize local producers and replace them on internal markets. Years later, the developing countries even in New Europe discovered that they have acquired unevenly structured, deeply fragmented economies, which depend on external supplies and foreign technologies.

If BRICS countries want international aid policies to serve their objective of making the developing world economically independent and thus overcome postcolonial syndrome, if they seek the international assistance programs to be transformed into one of the pillars of a fair, inclusive and democratic world order – and BRICS countries really do want it – they must act differently. Development assistance policies should be thoroughly reformed to support local companies, upgrade local governance, and provide expertise and stimulus for the local markets and local authorities to become efficient, diversified and competitive. This is the optimum roadmap for combatting poverty, economic dependence and underdevelopment.

3. Conditionality concept must be abandoned, and the markets should be opened only for those who need economic assistance instead of opening them from both ends.

Conditionality is the new word used as a cover-up for the implementation of postcolonial policies. The new generation of the EU association and partnership agreements comprises conditionality provisions related to human rights protection, democratic institutions, nonproliferation, fight against corruption, pollution, climate change, and illegal immigration. If taken out of the context of bilateral relations, all these matters are important and beneficial for countries in need of international development assistance. They are essential for ensuring successful and smooth development. Yet, the moment the "conditionality" clause is inserted into international agreements the value of the latter is diminished and sometimes transformed into their opposite.

Conditionality is the new symbol of dependence. It allows former colonial metropoles to position themselves as judges and supervisors over internal development of other countries. It gives them an excuse and authority to arbitrarily introduce restrictions and limitations, hindering the normal course of international relations. Thus, it kills any notion of equality between nations and sovereign rights. Conditionality becomes a stick in the hands of more powerful states, an allegedly legitimized instrument for exerting political pressure, an institutionalized tool to squeeze out concessions and command obedience. It has nothing in common with healthy world trade, global economy and modern politics. It is the heritage of the colonial past that everybody wants to forget, and it must be abandoned, especially if we are serious with our intention to create a fair, inclusive and democratic world order.

The same is partially true in respect of the requirements of the International Monetary Fund and the borrowing and reception of other nation's legal and technical standards. There are many valuable academic studies proving that instead of helping national economies these requirements often end up making them less competitive or even destroying them, and, in general, they are intended to perpetuate economic and political dependence of these states (even in the case of Greece or Ukraine) and serve the purpose of intruding and conquering other nations' internal markets. Given the disparity in economic development, applying same measures could have opposite effect in varying social and cultural environments, and whatever once proved to be helpful for some nations could be detrimental for others. However, there are measures invariably beneficial for all less developed nations without exception: e.g. preferential legal regimes, fair access to long-term and cheap financial resources, long-term investments, the abolishment of protectionist and administrative barriers, and ensuring easy access for their goods and products to the internal markets of the developed countries.

4. Fast development and modernization are the best way to win war against terrorism.

Grand celebrations about victories over international terrorism or Islamic state [outlawed in the Russian Federation] are misleading. Islamic state may have lost control over its previously occupied territories, but it continues to win more and more supporters in all countries around the world. It becomes more and more attractive to the deprived and frustrated. It spreads everywhere. Its fighters return home and establish sleeping cells and undercover networks. Islamic state is not going to abandon its terrorist activities­. The widespread support of extremist organizations is due to two different reasons, and therefore humanity has to wage two types of war against international terrorism.

The first should target perpetrators of terrorist criminal offences. The united front of states is able to destroy international terrorist organizations and networks; basic international treaties can be applied; appropriate tools are well developed. However, in order to win the war against international terrorism the united front of states, first and foremost, must exist. Until now, major global and regional players have failed to establish it. Instead of pooling resources, some of the countries support groups of terrorists fighting against their peers and against legitimate governments as well. It is well known who gave birth to Taliban and who is responsible for the rise of the Islamic state. Yet, creating a united front is indispensable. In their areas of responsibility, BRICS countries are well positioned to take the lead. Even more, they will have to use their status and influence for this noble goal.

The second priority, which is essential in the long run, is to eliminate the breeding ground and sources of international terrorism. These are poverty, underdevelopment, oppression, and hopelessness. It is for BRICS countries to explain to everybody that the only way to cure it is to come up with a sensible international development agenda, international development assistance of the kind explained above, and genuine international cooperation.

5. Both of these lines of action directions are crucial in solving the future migration crisis. Russia has already acquired both positive and negative experience in this field.

2015-2016 will be remembered as the years of fudge migration crisis in the EU, which turned out to be a true disaster. It has changed the EU policies, perceptions, style of life and even the political landscape, and hardly for the better. Nevertheless, the EU is carrying just a small chunk of the burden of refugees, displaced persons and migration flows, compared to what the Middle East, Asian or African countries are taking up on their shoulders. Moreover, the EU case serves as a good example that appropriate management of migration flows cannot be secured by building walls. Especially if we take into consideration that, in accordance with estimates in the UN reports, there are more than 60 million migrants, refugees and displaced people in the world, and this number will grow tremendously in the coming one or two decades.

To cope with this global problem, we also need a working policy of world development as described above. Today, many nations perceive international migration as a threat – a threat to their cultural identity, traditions, security, social protection, etc. But using the right instruments to foster economic development in the world, humanity is able to transform migration into a normal freedom of movement. For that we need to achieve a two-fold aim: to narrow the gap between poor and rich people, and between poor and rich nations – that means to implement principles of social justice and achieve real economic decolonization, and to promote a fair, inclusive and democratic world order.

6. In order to find additional financial resources for further development, BRICS countries must accelerate the implementation of their agreements on establishing exchange mechanisms of the national currencies.

One of the key premises for faster development is free access to long-term and cheap financing, as we have pointed out above. Economists keep saying that most money in the world is under the control of rich world powers. It is only partially true. All BRICS countries have plenty of money at their disposal, and here China stands out. The priority now is to make this money work much more efficiently.

It's entirely true that the United States have the dollar-pegged world trade and global currency exchange system under their control. It allows them to reap huge benefits – they print more money from cheap paper and all other nations have to treat it as if it were gold[2]. One of the consequences of this dominance amounts to the often misuse of it by the USA, allowing them to arbitrarily punish other nations, impose restrictions on trade and financial operations as well as to impede fair competition.

Therefore, BRICS countries made a wise decision to settle mutual payments between member states in their national currencies. This decision must be implemented ASAP. If properly implemented and practiced, it can contribute significantly to both internal and external relations of BRICS countries.

7. A future-oriented framework for mutual payments must use blockchain technologies.

Next step must provide for the establishment of a pool of national currencies as the prime currency exchange tool for all significant items of their exports, starting with oil, natural gas and other commodities. BRICS and third countries will need to accumulate their currencies instead of the US dollars. As these currencies would gradually increase its share in global trade, even in situations when BRICS countries are not party to the transaction, and thus the fair, inclusive and democratic world order will begin to take shape.

To achieve these goals BRICS countries must also explore new cyber technologies and take the leading positions in developing them. Public institutions, financial corporations, companies in the manufacturing sectors of the economy should come to use them more often. It's high time to launch a special program to design BRICS cryptocurrency for mutual financial settlements and agree on its legal status and properties.

8. Next generation technologies, reliable IC and other sophisticated high-tech solutions are likely to become the best vehicle for development and modernization.

One of the major achievements of BRICS countries is the emerging interfacing and interaction between the Economic belt of Silk Road and the Eurasian Economic Union. For the Russian Federation, it is the cornerstone for the All-embracing Greater Eurasian Partnership that Moscow started to advance just three years ago in May 2015.

Our vision is that large-scale trans-regional projects will foster rapid development of advanced industries with intensive use of the state-of-the-art technologies and new economy sectors in all countries of Greater Eurasia. Moscow is eager and ready to contribute to this partnership by offering Northern Sea Route capabilities.

In addition, Moscow shares the opinion that it would be a mistake to rely on obsolete models of manufacturing and development. All BRICS countries must put an emphasis on developing new IC and other state-of-the-art technologies putting them to practical use for the sake of creating the "new economy". Russian state and private companies may contribute to building up this "new economy" by sharing with all BRICS and Greater Eurasia countries advanced technologies based on new physical principles, breakthrough technologies in nuclear, space, computer big data and other spheres where they enjoy a competitive advantage.

9. International intellectual property law must be put under review or even reinvented to provide wider access to intellectual property.

Existing international intellectual property protection conventions were agreed upon in the XIX century. Instead of serving mankind, they are likely to preserve and prolong poverty, dependence and underdevelopment. They pose a big challenge for BRICS countries as well as to the continuing development of all parts of the world. We think that it will be appropriate to establish a special BRICS research group with the mandate to make proposals about changing this situation to create a different political, economic and financial environment for better access to modern technologies for all.

Instead of a summary. To those who have read the article up to this point we have prepared a fairy tale that explains in a marvelous way what is going on and what are the prevailing trends in the world. The participants of the BRICS International Conference appreciated this fairy tale very much.

Far away in the mountains there lived and worked scientists exploring our Universe, and once upon a time they discovered that a huge asteroid will inevitably hit our planet Earth; nothing could be done and the cradle of our civilization would inevitably disappear. Spy agencies that were keeping an eye on valuable scientific activities immediately picked this up and reported to their superiors.

Of course, Mossad was the first to know. In two hours, Netanyahu, prime-minister of Israel, right after he called Washington on the red line, gathered a large crowd of compatriots on the central square in Jerusalem (regardless of Palestinian revolt) and delivered a brief speech. He said that he had two news to share with them. One is good, and another is bad. The good one is that the so-called Palestinian state, which all Jews in the world hate as much as he does, will disappear forever. The bad one is that, unfortunately, Mother Earth will disappear too.

If something is known to two men or two women, soon becomes known to everybody. Spontaneously, long rallies are held in Arab and Muslim countries. Addressing the crowds, mullahs said that they had wonderful news – the USA and the whole Western-Northern civilization will be entirely destroyed soon. The bad news is that Muslim fighters will not destroy the USA and the whole Western-Northern civilization and jihadists will have no role to play in ensuring such a bright future.

At the same time, the American president Donald Trump met with members of his close circle and Republican Party leadership in the White House. Being a genuine politician and exemplary showman, he ordered TV channels, the ones that supported him, to cover the meeting. Trump announced that he would unveil two news, one bad and one good. The bad news is that the Earth will disappear. But Americans must not be too upset by this misfortune because, according to classified information from Mossad and CIA, all of them being superior nations will directly go to Paradise. Unfortunately, it is highly likely that other nations will go to Paradise as well.

When the recently reelected Russian president Vladimir Putin appeared on all national TV channels, he told that everybody will go to Paradise like the Americans, and that there are two things to be remembered. First, oil and gas have no value in Paradise. But people should not be too pessimistic about it because sanctions are useless there as well.

In the meantime, Xi Jinping, the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong, did not waste time on explanations. The extraordinary session of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee adopted a special resolution on the imminent disappearance of the Western-Northern civilization. The Chinese leadership prescribed to go ahead with the implementation of the Economic belt of Silk Road and Shared future for the mankind projects – calmly and resolutely. Simply because Americans and Europeans are too lazy – they have forgotten how to work hard while the Chinese people with other friendly BRICS nations are so dynamic that they will have plenty of time to build up prosperity for their countries and a prosperous world well before something happens to Earth.

Let us hope the big Chinese Dream comes true…



© Mark ENTIN
Professor at MGIMO University, Moscow State Institute of International Relations (University) MFA Russia
76, pr. Vernadskogo, Moscow, Russian Federation, 119454,
Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University professor-researcher
entinmark@gmail.com;
ORCID: 0000-0001-9562-8340

© Ekaterina ENTINAAssociate Professor at National Research University Higher School of Economics17-1, ul. Malaya Ordynka, Moscow, Russian Federation, 119017,
Russian Academy of Science Institute of Europe senior scientific researcherORCID: 0000-0003-4198-4870

* Authors input into the discussion at the 17^th Wanshou Forum: 2018 BRICS Think Tank International Conference and its four main topics – 1. New International Development and Building a Community of Shared Future for Mankind; 2. Exploring New Mechanism and New Path of BRICS Cooperation; 3. BRICS Cooperation and Sustainable Development; 4. International Development and Cooperation: Best Practices from BRICS Countries. BRICS International Conference was convened by the China Council for BRICS Think Tank Cooperation and the University of International Business and Economics to implement the consensus reached in the 2017 BRICS Summit in Xiamen to create more opportunities for BRICS academic exchanges and foster cooperation in dealing with BRICS issues.

[1] W.Ischinger. Panel discussion 4 "International Security "New normal" of Polycentric World Order. November 29, 2016 / International Forum Primakov readings proceedings 2016. – Moscow, 2017. P. 110.

[2] Lan Cao. A trade war the U.S. is actually winning, for now // The New York Times International Edition. April 28-29, 2018. P. 11.

Russia
Source: www.mid.ru

On June 4, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov took part in the BRICS Foreign Ministers Meeting in Pretoria.

The participants had an in-depth discussion of the current issues on the global agenda, including those related to maintaining peace and stability. The ministers discussed coordinating the BRICS countries' approaches at international venues and reaffirmed their commitment to multilateralism, a just and equal world order, the UN's central role, and respect for international law and the UN Charter. They also took a joint stand against military interventions, unilateral economic coercive measures, protectionism and unfair competition.

The ministers exchanged views on the further development of the five countries' strategic cooperation, including in the context of preparations for the 10th BRICS Anniversary Summit on July 25–27 in Johannesburg.

A joint communique was adopted following the meeting.

Russia
Source: www.mid.ru

On June 3, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, during his visit to Pretoria to take part in a meeting of the BRICS foreign ministers, was received by President of the Republic of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa.

Sergey Lavrov spoke in support of the priorities of South Africa's Chairmanship in BRICS and praised the country's energetic efforts to organise a BRICS summit in Johannesburg on July 25-27, 2018.

Sergei Lavrov and Cyril Ramaphosa also discussed the main directions of the Russia-South Africa strategic partnership and noted the significant potential of joint fruitful work in the investment, research, technical, cultural and other areas. They also emphasised their intention to boost mutually beneficial cooperation.

Russia
Source: www.mid.ru

Madam President,

Colleagues, friends,

I am pleased to be with you here at our new meeting in the hospitable land of South Africa. First of all, I would like say a few words of gratitude to South Africa's Foreign Minister Lindiwe Sisulu for the hospitality and excellent organisation of our work.

It is profoundly symbolic, as you just said, that the South African Republic's Chairmanship of BRICS is also the year of the 100th anniversary of Nelson Mandela's birth. The great son of the South African people devoted his entire life to the struggle against apartheid and rightfully became the pivotal figure in your country's national reconciliation. He was a great friend of the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation.

The legacy of the wise Madiba and the principles he advocated – equality, honesty and justice – are dear to people not only in Africa, but worldwide. These are also the principles and values that the BRICS stands for when working to establish an equitable and fair system of international relations.

The uniqueness of our association lies in our ability to build genuine partner relations between different parts of the world and continents. BRICS is one of the few international institutions aimed at strengthening stability, trust and predictability at the global level. We promote a positive agenda in global affairs, stick to searching for compromise based on non-ideological approaches, on multilateralism and teamwork. We are ready to jointly respond to threats that are common for humanity – be it terrorism, drug trafficking, climate change or new challenges to cybersecurity.

The five nations firmly uphold the basic principles of the UN Charter, above all, the sovereign equality of states and non-interference in their internal affairs. They are committed to the principles of indivisible security in all aspects, using collective methods of settling crises by political and diplomatic means and practicing multilateralism. They reject armed interventions, unilateral economic measures of coercion, protectionism and unfair competition. We are unanimous or close in our assessments of key global challenges, and we fully agree on the need to resist attempts to revise the results of WWII, to glorify Nazis, or to treat the victors and war criminals equally.

It is gratifying that our full-format meetings have grown into an annual tradition, the same as the September meetings on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Today we have the opportunity, before the BRICS summit on 25-27 July in Johannesburg, to compare our approaches and prepare the documents that will be submitted for the heads' of state consideration. Our joint statement for the media today should also contribute to the results of the Johannesburg summit.

We will certainly review the development of strategic partnership within the BRICS in all key areas – political, economic and humanitarian. I would like to welcome the initiative of the South African Chairmanship to focus on several important issues – making use of the achievements of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the fight against terrorism, the joint development of vaccines, the coordination of approaches to preparing and conducting peacekeeping operations.

We count on support for Russia's proposal, approved by the leaders of our countries last year, to draft a five-party agreement on international information security at today's meeting and then at the summit in Johannesburg.

I would also like to repeat that we are interested in promoting initiatives to create the Energy Research Platform and the Women's Business Alliance in the BRICS. At a later stage, we could also consider a Women's Diplomatic Alliance, taking into account our collective work.

Russia
Source: www.mid.ru

Ladies and gentlemen,

First of all, I want to thank our South African friends for their hospitality and excellent organisation of our work. I am pleased to see that these meetings of BRICS foreign ministers, along with our annual meetings on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, have become a good tradition and are now held every year. The speed at which international events move requires that we coordinate our positions with our partners in this association on a regular basis.

We discussed a wide range of topical issues as to maintaining international peace and stability, the global economy and trade. We agreed that our common goals to strengthen the strategic partnership of our five countries require constant attention. A constructive and thorough talk confirmed that the five states have identical or similar views of all these issues. This was reflected in the communiqué distributed for the media following the ministers' meeting.

We seek to strengthen BRICS further as an important factor in the emerging new polycentric, more just and democratic world order that plays a constructive role in promoting stability and security in our restless world.

We spoke about extending our cooperation to the UN, G20, the WTO and other international organisations.

We confirmed our commitment to the principles of indivisible security, collective resolution of disputes by political and diplomatic means, with reliance on international law and the UN's central role. We share the view that unilateral approaches are unacceptable as are attempts to revise international legal agreements and UNSC resolutions on a number of issues that concern the interests of all countries.

We particularly focused on the settlement of acute international conflicts, intensifying common efforts in the five-party format on combating global threats – primarily, international terrorism. In this context, we welcomed the results of the BRICS Working Group on Combating Terrorism's third meeting in White River held in April. The meeting adopted a Russia-drafted regulation of this important five-way group.

We also exchanged opinions on cooperation in cybersecutiry. We agreed that it is necessary to improve the international legal framework of cooperation in the area, including through development of a respective five-party agreement.

We welcomed the initiatives of South Africa's Chairmanship which is preparing for the summit in Johannesburg in late July. The initiatives include using the fourth industrial revolution in the interests of our countries, creating centres for vaccine development, peacekeeping cooperation under the UN, promoting tourism among our countries and a number of other proposals aimed at expanding our practical interaction.

The conversation on economic issues was very useful. Specifically, we discussed the progress of the BRICS Economic Partnership Strategy. We also discussed prospects of establishing an energy research platform and a BRICS women's business alliance.

Once again, I appreciate our hosts' hospitality.

Question: Did you discuss the results of your visit to the DPRK with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi yesterday? Taking into account the BRICS' growing weight in international affairs, was this topic expanded upon at the BRICS plenary session today?

Sergey Lavrov: Yesterday I met with Chinese Foreign Minister, my friend and colleague Wang Yi. We discussed the entire range of our relations in the context of the preparations for President Vladimir Putin's visit to China on June 8 on the eve of the SCO Summit.

The international issues we discussed include the situation on the Korean Peninsula as well as contacts between North and South Koreas and between Pyongyang and Washington. Together with China, we welcome all the steps and actions that will help overcome mistrust and confrontational tendencies as well as to create conditions to normalise relations and denuclearise the entire Korean Peninsula. At the last stage of this process (I hope it will not be torpedoed, although it is possible) we will have to agree the basic principles and guarantees for peace, stability and security in northeastern Asia in general.

The developments in relations between the two Koreas and North Korea and the US correspond with the ideas proposed in the Russian-Chinese roadmap we with Foreign Minister Wang Yi signed last June, which proposes a three-stage process: renouncing confrontation and confrontational rhetoric; normalising relations between all the antagonists; and collective multilateral efforts to forge peace and stability guarantees in northeastern Asia.

We also examined these processes during our meeting today. Our joint position to support these trends is reflected in the final statement we have adopted.

***

Everyone is welcome to come visit us for the World Cup without any advance notice. All heads of state and government are invited. We expect a large number of guests. We would also like to wish success to everyone taking part in the World Cup.

Russia
Source: www.mid.ru

On June 4, a meeting between Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of South Africa Lindiwe Sisulu was held on the sidelines of the BRICS Foreign Ministers Meeting.

The Russian side praised the progress of preparations for the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg on July 25-27, 2018 and the priorities of the South African Chairmanship of BRICS. It was reaffirmed that Russia and South Africa both wish to continue coordinating positions in other multilateral formats, primarily in the UN and the G20.

The ministers exchanged views on current issues on the international agenda, confirming that the foreign policy approaches of Moscow and Pretoria are similar or identical.

The parties discussed a wide range of issues related to the implementation of the Russian-South African strategic partnership, including interaction in trade, economic, science, technology, education, culture and other areas. It was stressed that the Joint Intergovernmental Committee on Trade and Economic Cooperation is an effective driver of diverse business ties. The ministers also noted the broad prospects for constructive joint work involving the regions of Russia and South Africa.

Russia
Source: www.mid.ru

Mr Deputy Secretary-General,

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am glad to greet you at the International Conference on Safeguarding Sport from Corruption.

I would like to thank the UN Office for Drugs and Crime for its willingness to hold this event pursuant to the resolution on corruption in sport passed by the states parties to the UN Convention Against Corruption. We appreciate the efforts of our BRICS partners who have co-sponsored this conference. It is heartening that the invitation to attend the forum has also been accepted by other UN member states, the International Olympic Committee and sports organisations – the International Federation of Association Football, the Union of European Football Associations, the Asian Football Confederation and many others. This attests to the relevance of the conference theme as well as to the interest of the international community in creating more effective tools to prevent corruption in sport.

We have decided to time this forum for what is arguably the most significant sporting event of the year, the FIFA World Cup. The representatives of other sport federations may not agree with me. However, statistics show that football, which has more than 3.5 million fans across the world, is firmly in the lead.

Russia has been preparing to host the championship for more than seven years. But we have waited for it for much longer, for our country will be hosting a FIFA World Cup for the first time. Over the past years, a large amount of work has been done to renovate the old and build new sports and infrastructure facilities. Matches will be played in 11 cities at 12 stadiums that meet all the FIFA standards, including environmental ones. The Russia 2018 Local Organising Committee estimates that at least 600,000 fans will come to this country. Already more than half of all the tickets to the matches have been bought by the citizens of foreign countries, above all the US, Brazil, Colombia, Germany, Mexico and Argentina. More than 3.5 billion people are expected to watch the tournament on television. Being the host of such a major event and its high public status confer a great honour as well as a huge responsibility.

Russia, of course, has experience preventing corruption when organising international sporting competitions. This is recognised, for example, in the handbook The United Nations Against Corruption: A Strategy for Safeguarding Against Corruption in Major Public Events developed in 2013 by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and financed by the Russian Federation. Our two-day forum is expected to follow the main structure of this handbook.

Particular attention is paid in the handbook to the practice of preparing the 2013 Summer Universiade in Kazan and the 2014 Sochi Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. It provides for the participation of several supervisory, auditing and investigative agencies in regular monitoring of the preparation and holding of events, analysis of planning and the distribution of financial resources. This approach to corruption prevention made it possible to reveal and understand the corruption risks and their effective management.

The authors of the handbook stress that Russia has formed a fairly broad legislative base that ensures the functioning of long-term mechanisms to regulate and guide the organisation of major events with due account of corruption risks. It comprises the federal laws On Counteracting Corruption of 2008, On Anti-Corruption Expertise of Normative Legal Acts and Draft Normative Legal Acts of 2009, the resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation On Anti-Corruption Screening of Normative Legal Acts and Draft Normative Legal Acts, and the National Anti-Corruption Strategy of 2010. Our country has also enacted various measures to ensure openness of the activities of public bodies, including those responsible for major events. Under the federal law On Placing Orders for the Supply of Goods and the Performance of Work and Rendering of Services for State and Municipal Needs of 2005, web sites are operating with information on all types of procurement activities and registration of agreements in a special register which enables effective monitoring and control to be carried out.

It is also important to point out that the handbook cites numerous examples of advanced practices of preventing corruption risks of our BRICS partners, notably China during the Summer Olympics in Beijing in 2008 and Brazil during the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics. We would appreciate it if the representatives of these countries shared their experience during the course of this conference.

Russia is party to a number of international legal agreements on the prevention of corruption in sport, including the 1999 Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention on Corruption, and the 2016 Council of Europe Convention on an Integrated Safety, Security and Service Approach at Football Matches and Other Sports Events. In accordance with the plan approved by the Russian Government, competent national agencies are preparing for the ratification of the 2014 Council of Europe Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions.

Evidence of corruption in sports, including the practice of match fixing, may be classified according to several provisions of the Russian Criminal Code, specifically, Article 184 "Exerting unlawful influence on the outcome of official sports competitions or entertaining commercial contests," Article 204 "Commercial bribery" and Article 290 "Bribe-taking." The acts covered by these articles are punishable by a fine of up to 1 million roubles (about $17,000), community work, or a prison term of up to seven years as well as a temporary ban on holding particular positions or engaging in certain types of activities. During 2015-2017, one crime under Article 184 of the Criminal Code was registered in Russia. There have also been cases where individuals and legal entities were brought to justice for other corruption-related offences and crimes in sports, including bribe-taking and abuse of power.

Russian law contains provisions against illegal and improper betting. Thus, Article 26.2 "Preventing unlawful influence on the outcome of official sports competitions and combating the same" of the 2007 Federal Law On Physical Culture and Sports in the Russian Federation envisages a ban on placing bets on official sports competitions in bookmaker offices and betting houses for certain categories of athletes, coaches, sports team managers and sports agencies, as well as the use of sanctions by sports federations (including disqualification of athletes) for violating it.

The World Cup is expected to have a major impact on the bookmaking market in Russia. Experts predict an average 50-percent increase in stakes during the championship. According to 2017 data, the total of all the stakes made by gamblers and legal bookmaking companies amounted to 403 billion roubles ($6.6 billion). The legal sector accounts for 60 percent although estimates vary. The growing interest in virtual games must also be taken into account. In 2016, that segment of the market in Russia stood at between 80 million and 1.2 billion roubles (between $5 million and $20 million) while globally it was as high as $6 billion to $8 billion, including real and virtual money. In recent years, many big bookmaking companies in Russia have moved into the legal segment due to the amendments introduced in 2014 to the 2006 Federal Law On State Regulation of Gambling. A ban was imposed on betting on the websites of companies which are not licensed in Russia and are not operating with the Interactive Betting Accounting Centre.

In April 2017, the rules on promotion of betting services were substantially loosened for the market participants. By the same token, the operators were now obliged to pay 5 percent of their income for development of sports to the federations for which competitions they placed bets.

To prevent corruption in sport, prosecution bodies conduct anti-corruption screening of the legislation that regulates relations in sport. Thus, after a protest by the Mordovian Prosecutor's Office, the procedure for granting subsidies for the organisation of transit during the 2018 World Cup in Saransk, which could be potentially corrupt, was brought in compliance with the federal law.

Competent national bodies are working to raise public awareness of corruption in sports. Ahead of the World Cup, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office and the Ministry of Sport prepared a respective memorandum intended for a wide audience.

The Russian Prosecutor General's Office also interacts with the relevant authorities in foreign states, providing legal assistance in criminal cases involving corruption in sport. Russia is currently cooperating on two cases with France, Switzerland, the United States, Germany, Canada and Monaco. In one of these cases, Russia received a request from the French Ministry of Justice which it is fulfilling right now.

Overall, the modest figures attest to a high level of discretion in corruption-related crimes in sport. In this regard, we consider it necessary to step up the efforts of national law enforcement bodies in uncovering such crimes and also to continue the work on strengthening international cooperation on the prevention of corruption in sports.

I am sure that during the course of the two-day discussions, exchanging opinions and sharing best practices we will be able to make our humble contribution to achieving that goal.

Thank you.

Greece
Author: Kester Kenn Klomegah
Source: moderndiplomacy.eu

Russia and South Africa have recently stepped up efforts towards finalizing "the most significant issues" relating to the 10th edition of BRICS Summit scheduled to take place from 25-27 July in Johannesburg, South Africa.

According to official documents, BRICS is an informal association of five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The group, founded in June 2006 at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), first known as BRIC prior to inclusion of South Africa in 2009. It has yearly rotating chairmanship among its five members.

After Jacob Zuma's resignation in February, Russian President Vladimir Putin has maintained very close working contact and cooperation with the new South African leader Cyril Ramaphosa.

The Kremlin speaks about a very high strategic level of partnership while praising the joint activities of the two countries in the area of foreign politics, in particular within the United Nations, BRICS (an association of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).

In mid-May, Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov meeting with South African Deputy President David Mabuza expressed high optimism when he said: "Our presidents talked not so long ago, on March 23. They agreed to continue a course toward the comprehensive development of our relations in all areas. And, of course, we agreed to have a special meeting during the BRICS summit to take place in Johannesburg at the end of July."

In his turn, Mabuza thanked Lavrov and handed him a special message from the South African president addressed to Russian President Vladimir Putin which experts interpreted as part of the preparations towards the next BRICS summit. As protocol demands, Mabuza did not disclose its contents.

Instead, Mabuza laid emphasis on his country's interest in enhancing foreign policy coordination with Russia and praised its consistent line of principle on supporting the efforts of the African community to find consensus-based solutions to the continent's political and socio-economic issues.

On May 17, as a follow-up to series of consultations on the summit, Deputy Foreign Minister and Russia's BRICS, Sherpa Sergey Ryabkov, also met with Ambassador of South Africa to the Russian Federation, Nomasonto Maria Sibanda-Thusi. During that meeting, Ryabkov reaffirmed Russia's readiness to provide all the necessary support to its South African friends in holding a successful BRICS summit.

The officials had a mutually engaging discussion on a number of issues on the broad agenda of multifaceted cooperation within BRICS. Both sides expressed confidence that during South Africa's BRICS presidency the group will make great strides in strengthening strategic partnership in all three key areas of the organisation's focus: peace and security, economy and finance, and cultural and humanitarian ties.

BRICS-Africa Dialogue

Russia is very instrumental in deepening constructive dialogue between BRICS and African countries, including through the "BRICS Plus" mechanism. This year, the chairmanship plans to invite Africans to the 10th anniversary BRICS summit in Johannesburg.

Early March, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reiterated in an interview with the pan-African monthly Hommes d'Afrique magazine in the run-up to his tour of African countries: "We support deepening the BRICS-Africa dialogue, which was launched in Durban in 2013 during the meeting between the association's member-countries, the African Union leadership and the leaders of eight leading regional integration associations."

"We believe that the 'BRICS Plus' concept approved last year lays the foundation for making the practice of inviting chairpersons of the African Union and, possibly, other African regional associations to the BRICS summits systemic," he explained.

As South Africa has taken over BRICS chairmanship, Lavrov is particularly pleased to note that "our South African friends intend to make African issues part of the BRICS agenda, discuss the key problems and challenges facing the continent," he said. "For our part, we welcome this approach."

NDB Financed Projects

The BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) and Business Council are two significant features, among others, of BRICS group. The NDB finances projects while the main tasks of the Business Council is to identify problems and difficulties, which hinder growth of economic, trade, business and investment cooperation between BRICS countries.

The bank's first non-sovereign project was a $200 million loan to Brazil's Petrobras for an environmental protection scheme and the second a $200 million loan to South Africa's Transnet to reconstruct a port in Durban. The NDB has also extended funds for projects in Karelia, Russia. The NDB is currently considering to extend another substantial loan for two projects in Russia – the Amur gas processing plant (GCP) and the petrochemical plant in Tobolsk – by the year-end, according to the Russian Finance Ministry.

As expected, African leaders and Experts believe that the NDB pays particular attention to the viable projects on African continent. "The New Development Bank is just starting its operation but it will soon work in full swing," Lavrov explained. "Projects discussed at the initial stage pertain only to the territory of five BRICS countries. Potential projects outside BRICS is the next stage. However, special attention will be clearly paid to the African continent because an office of the BRICS New Development Bank will be situated in South Africa."

The agreement on establishing the BRICS New Development Bank concluded on July 15, 2014 in Brazil's Fortaleza. The bank's starting capital was set at $100 bn. The Shanghai-headquartered bank has been set up to finance infrastructure projects and sustainable development projects in BRICS member countries and in other developing countries.

Future Steps

On June 4, the BRICS Council of Foreign Ministers held a meeting in Pretoria, South Africa. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs report that meeting was largely aimed at outlining significant tasks for future and that include a wide range of issues pertaining to the maintenance of international peace and stability, the global economy, interaction between the BRICS countries and the coordination of their positions in the complicated conditions of global political turbulence.

There were in-depth talks on the situation in the world's trouble spots and common goals in the face of new challenges and threats, primarily efforts against international terrorism and for international information security.

One of Russia's priorities is to promote strategic partnership among the BRICS countries. Over the past years, this group of five large rising economies has developed from an interest club into a comprehensive mechanism of multifaceted strategic partnership. The group has developed a network of industry-specific cooperation, contacts and cooperation between their business and research communities and civil societies.

The five BRICS countries are working towards indivisible security, stronger international stability in all dimensions, collective efforts to settle crises by political and diplomatic means, and multilateralism. They reject military interventions, unilateral economic enforcement measures, protectionism and unfair competition. The BRICS countries are working together to protect the system of multilateral trade based on the central role of the WTO as the only universal platform for formulating the rules of global trade.

The BRICS countries are working to find new sources of economic growth. The group played a major role in promoting the reform of the IMF. It has created the New Development Bank and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement to help modernise the architecture of global governance and financial security.

The five BRICS countries support the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

The BRICS countries focused on consolidating and diversifying the mechanisms of multifaceted cooperation and finding new spheres of cooperation. BRICS is open to the world and consistently expanding its ties with concerned countries and integration associations.

—————–

The BRICS member countries (namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) collectively represent about 26% of the world's geographic area and are home to 2.88 billion people, about 42% of the world's population.

China
Author: Wang Lei
Source: www.globaltimes.cn

The 10th BRICS summit will be held in Johannesburg, South Africa from July 25 to 27. The trade friction between China and the US has drawn global attention and triggered complex feelings among the BRICS countries.

While some speculators may be hoping to take advantage of the situation, BRICS countries' primary concern is that the Sino-US trade friction will continue and have a negative impact on the world economy.

Russia views the trade friction as one of the steps taken by the US to contain China's rise and avoid a challenge to its hegemony. At the same time, Russia also believes that the trade friction will draw China closer to Russia and provide more support for Russia in dealing with Western pressure.

The other three BRICS countries - Brazil, India and South Africa - are worried they might become the next targets of the US. They also fear that the aggressive unilateral measures launched by the US could jeopardize the multilateral trading system and eventually their own interests, as well as aggravating the anti-globalization trend, trade protectionism and xenophobia.

In 2017, the BRICS accounted for 23 percent of the world economy and 16 percent of world trade, as well as contributing more than 50 percent of global economic growth. The BRICS countries have not only been an important international multilateral economic and trade cooperation mechanism, but also have become close trading partners with each other. Therefore, the worries among the BRICS countries cannot be ignored.

The US' trade protectionism has caused worry throughout international society. But together, the BRICS countries can cope with the pressure from the US and make efforts to maintain the international trade order.

BRICS countries are highly complementary with each other in economic and trade terms. By offering great opportunities based on its further reform and opening-up, China can ease the concerns of other BRICS countries regarding Sino-US trade tension. By joining this process, the other BRICS countries can explore new economic and trade cooperation models and contribute to world economic growth. To this end, certain specific efforts can be made by China.

First, China has demonstrated its determination to open up to the world. China will strive for support from the other BRICS countries through bodies such as the World Trade Organization and the G20 to protect multilateralism and the global trading system, which is built on international rules. The BRICS can establish an open world economy together, fighting against the anti-globalization and protectionist tendencies that have emerged in the US and some other developed countries.

Second, China can keep other members of the BRICS well informed about the progress of Sino-US trade negotiations. This way, the consensus can be enhanced, which can help in countering unilateralism. And it can stop member countries from being tempted to take advantage of the China-US trade tension.

Third, China will need to expand imports and continue its opening-up. The domestic market will not be opened solely to US products and services; it will be opened to other countries equally.

The opening-up will be based on China's future development. And growth in imports will be in line with domestic needs. Other BRICS members will be able to share development achievements in their economic and trade cooperation with China. There will not be unequal treatment in China for foreign products and services.

The priority is to implement the strategy for the BRICS economic partnership. The strategy sets out economic and trade cooperation for the BRICS countries over the next 10 years and highlights cooperation in fields such as finance, mining, agriculture, manufacturing, transportation, science and technology, as well as infrastructure and global economic governance. It is very important for BRICS countries to enhance their economic and trade cooperation, promote free trade and build an integrated market in BRICS countries.

China, the largest economic entity in the BRICS countries, is actively carrying out this strategy, while winning support from other members amid the Sino-US trade friction.

Republic of Korea
Author: Adam Garrie
Source: www.eurasiafuture.com

On the 9th and 10th of June, members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) will meet in the coastal Chinese city of Qingdao for their annual SCO forum. While this year's forum will discuss what China calls the three evils of terrorism, separatism and religious extremism, there will also be a strong focus on intensifying trading relations between SCO members, while discussions regarding integration of SCO members into the One Belt–One Road initiative will also form an important core of the meeting's subject matter.

While the SCO was formed to enhance security cooperation between its members, today's mission of bringing peace through prosperity means that an essential focus of any long ranging peace initiatives must include a strong emphasis on economic development. The current SCO members include China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Pakistan and India. Observer states who could potentially join in the near future include Belarus, Iran, Afghanistan and Mongolia while dialogue partners include Turkey, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Azerbaijan, Nepal and Armenia.

By contrast, the BRICS is a group whose main focus is on pooling investment capabilities and working towards unified development strategies among a smaller group of nations, but one with a wider geographical spread. The BRICS derives its name from its five members Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, although recent BRICS conferences have seen the development of the so-called BRICS+ format which has seen nations as diverse as Egypt, Thailand, Mexico and beyond.

One of the frequent criticisms of the BRICS is that while its members are all dynamic growing economies, it is too limited in its ambitions and perhaps paradoxically too conflicted regarding a single long term strategy. This latter point of criticism has been augmented by the fact that India is increasingly reticent under the leadership of Narendra Modi to engage in what New Delhi sees as "Sino-centric" initiatives.

The solution is not for the BRICS to retreat into a morass of existential contemplation but instead to pool its strengths with many of its fellow SCO members in order to expand the membership and agenda of both organisations. Both the SCO and BRICS are already largely synonymous with the leading nations of the wider global "east and south" whose developmental and security models are accelerating rapidly and furthermore are doing so along the lines of a wider pan-Asian/Afro-Asian and Latino-Asian model of development which increasingly rejects the neo-liberal/hegemonic tendencies of the global "west".

With the SCO summit set to discuss trading, economic and investment initiatives along with traditional security concerns, there is clearly an existing impetus to broaden the scope of issues central to the SCO. With the BRICS agenda clearly overlapping with the SCO's, it would make supreme sense to combine the two groups thereby creating a large Shanghai Cooperation and Development Organisation (SCDO) in order to inject fresh vitality into the BRICS format while expanding both existing bodies in such a way as to give the developing world a large forum to discuss all of the increasingly intertwined matters central to the nations of Asia, Africa and Latin America.

This new group could set itself with a broad but flexible five to ten year plan to work towards the following

–Integrating a large free trading space between ASEAN (the Association of South East Asian Nations), China and the Eurasian Economic Union

–Integrating the One Belt–One Road project across all SCO member states

–Developing a cooperative model for China and ASEAN in the South China Sea which works to exclude US meddling from an Asian authored, owned and executed plan of action

–Working to solve lingering disputes between India and Pakistan

–Developing a regional model for peace in Afghanistan

–Working to combine rapid development in Sub-Saharan Africa while simultaneously working with individual nations on combating the rising threat of terrorism and religious extremism

–Working to rapidly expand One Belt–One Road towards the Mediterranean

–Working to increase trading relationships for development between Latin America and Asia's fastest growing economies

These broad goals will require a great deal of effort from all respective partners, but most crucially, such goals can only be attained through a vast cooperative network of nations who share similar developmental and security goals, even if they at times have different preferred methods for solving various problems.

A unified single body to directly address the major issues facing the wider global "east and south" does however, offer the best possible chance to solve lingering issues stemming from post-colonial conflicts as well as the 21st century goals of transforming developing nations into moderately prosperous societies on the broadly Chinese model when conscientiously adapted to suit the national characteristics and requirements of all national partners.

The beginning of such a global mission should be the creation and constant expansion of a Shanghai Cooperation and Development Organisation (SCDO) whose plainly defined goal would be building peace through prosperity on the win-win model of the 21st century.

USA
Source: www.tampabay.com

PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — The foreign ministers of the BRICS emerging economies have criticized what they call a "new wave of protectionism," a reference to U.S. President Donald Trump's tough trade negotiations with key economic partners.

The envoys from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa referred to "unilateral measures that are incompatible with" international trade rules after a meeting Monday in the South African administrative capital of Pretoria.

The foreign ministers say Trump's measures undermine global trade and economic growth.

Trump has imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from top U.S. trading partners, including Canada, Mexico and the European Union. He has threatened tariffs on up to $200 billion in Chinese imports, raising the potential for retaliation.


Trump also says U.S. farmers have been treated "unfairly" and says "that will change."

Russia
Source: itforum.admhmao.ru

A "zero" day for mass media took place.on June 4 within the framework of the X International IT Forum, Director of the Department of Information Technology and Digital Development of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug - Ugra Pavel Tsiporin,Director of the Fund for the support of information and technological independence "Infofond" Alexander Zhukov and Chairperson of the Board of the Chamber of Commerce of Ugra Alfiya Pavkina participated in a tour around the exhibition. Participants of the press tour visited several exhibition stands: "Smart house" of partners of the project Rostelecom, high-tech raindeer skin tent, children's activities corner with a virtual zoo.

"Key subject of the X Anniversary IT Forum was digital economy. Over 10 years IT has made a huge step forward. Mankind has got gadgets and neural networks. If you recall the first IT Forum in 2007, there were literally two or three representatives of foreign companies. This year, we expect experts from more than 55 countries, from 43 constituent entities of the Russian Federation — almost half the country. At the moment, more than 1.5 thousand participants of the International IT Forum have been registered. It is noticeable that mass media interest in the topics raised at the Forum is growing. Hence, development of IT is interesting not only for experts of the sphere, but also for ordinary people. We have been actively discussing information security and protection from cyberthreats for the last two years - these are key areas of the digital economy," Pavel Tsiporin said.

"On the second day of the Forum, on June 6, International Conference on Information Security will be held with participation of the BRICS, SCO, CSTO under the name Infoforum-Ugra. This year, 15 guests from China will come, they are all representatives of the largest organizations in the field of information security. Participants will discuss global problems of managing Internet. One of the honored guests of the "InfoForum" will be Fan Binxing, chairperson of the China Cloud Security Association, who created the so-called golden shield - the great Chinese firewall," Alexander Zhukov shared.

"Within the framework of the IT Forum there will be an on-site meeting of the Council of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation dedicated to digital economy. In addition, regional industrial chambers will meet at the site and a meeting of the working group of the BRICS Business Council will take place. The group was established in March 2018, now the Forum will be preparing and discussing priority development areas, which we will present later at the BRICS summit in South Africa," Alfiya Pavkina said.

Russia
Source: itforum.admhmao.ru

BRICS Summit, which will be held in the largest city of South Africa, Johannesburg on July 25-27, may include a number of topics discussed at the 10th International IT Forum with the participation of the BRICS and SCO countries in Khanty-Mansiysk. This was reported by the Head of the IT and telecommunications Department, the additional director of the Federation of Indian CCI Sarika Guliani.

"From what is being discussed at the international forum in Khanty-Mansiysk, such topical issues as digitalization of the economy, machine learning, deep learning, problem of big data, telemedicine, digital healthcare, artificial intelligence and methods of its application could become an agenda of the upcoming summit in South Africa" she said, adding that this is not a complete, but the main list of modern challenges.

Indian expert takes part in a number of events of the International IT Forum with the participation of the BRICS and SCO in Khanty-Mansiysk, including a meeting of experts of BRICS and SCO Business Councils "Digitalization - an impulse for developing business cooperation of BRICS and SCO countries." Representatives of Russia, India, China, Kazakhstan take part in it.

Russia
Source: www.dvfu.ru

Victoria Panova, Vice President for International Relations of Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU), presented recommendations of the Russian Federation to the BRICS Summit at the 10th BRICS Academic Forum, which took place in Johannesburg (Republic of South Africa) from 28 to 31 May. More than 100 experts from leading research centers in Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa discussed issues of education, economy, health, security, energy, and gender inequality.

Victoria Panova took part in the development of recommendations to the meeting of the leaders of the BRICS countries, to be held in South Africa in July 2018. The FEFU Vice President presented a report on the participation of women in political and civic engagement, education, and expanding their economic opportunities.

"We need to start a comprehensive platform for combining the BRICS women's community, within which such Russian initiatives as the BRICS Women's Business Club and Public-Private Dialogue on Women and the Economy may function," stressed Victoria Panova. "These formats will bring together business and government representatives and will provide women entrepreneurs with an opportunity for international exchange of experience and networking."

The expert noted that those proposals were put forward by the Russian side after the first International Women's Congress of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and BRICS had been held in Novosibirsk in 2017.

The BRICS Academic Forum is an annual BRICS Think Tank Council (BTTC) scientific and practical conference on the 'academic track' of the BRICS countries interaction. Following the results of the forum, participants developed 20 practical recommendations on the development of cooperation in the BRICS format and addressing critical social issues.

South Africa
Source: www.iol.co.za

DURBAN - The 10th BRICS Academia Forum hosted top academia from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa in Johannesburg.
The academia from the five countries got together to propose actionable solutions to the some of the socio-economic challenges that developing face.

South Africa is the chair for the 2018 BRICS summit and Minister of Higher Education, Naledi Pandor was present at the opening of the forum.

South Africa also set the agenda for the forum this year and chose to focus on the theme of Envisioning inclusive development through a socially responsive economy.

The Chairman of the BRICS Think Tank Professor Ari Sitas said: "South Africa is not a poor country, but an unjust one and it's up to us right those injustices".

Addressing Gender Inequality

The theme of injustice was particularly evident in the first panel of which the focus was on gender and inequality in BRICS countries.

From the Chinese delegation, Gao Hao indicated that inclusivity is beneficial for not only women but for the economy too.

Hao said, "Research shows that if gender equality and women's empowerment are realised in most countries, the global GDP bonus will reach 28 trillion dollars."

However, the barriers to gender equality are quite significant. Joana Mostafa from the Brazil delegation explained that in Brazil for example, women dedicate many hours in a week to unpaid domestic care and work. This cuts down the number of hours they can dedicate to paid labour.

Universal Health Coverage

Another topic that was discussed was how universal health care (UHC) can get achieved in the five BRICS countries. The discussion began with talks on how developing countries have a long way to go before they can end epidemics like AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria by 2030.

From the South African delegation, Aquina Thulare pointed out that there are 911 million cases of TB in the world with 432 million cases happening in BRICS countries.

Thulare said that BRICS needs to take a good look at the real causes of the multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB). She added that if BRICS countries persist on taking drugs forced upon them by huge pharmaceutical companies as solutions to the TB epidemic then all that we have achieved is people that have a resistance to drugs that are currently being used to fight MDR-TB.

Strengthening Education and Science

During the forum, an important question was posed by the Russian delegation around pulling the collective strengths of the BRICS nations in the education, scientific and productive sectors.

From the Russian delegation, Leonid Grigoryev said that it is crucial to ask whether we are producing innovations or importing them.

Thaiane Oliveira from Brazil indicated that while the total scientific research outputs from BRICS countries was 1382 but only 288 of them are openly accessible.

Oliveira suggested that BRICS countries could possibly need to access open platforms to better the visibility of their research.

Promoting Energy Research

According to Jaya Josie South Africa faces a lot of challenges in the uptake of green energy. Josie said that more innovative financing mechanisms are required.

Aparajit Pandey from India said that international bank regulations restrain the financial flows of funding for climate change. Pandey believes that BRICS countries need to push for restoration in international financial institutions.