BRICS indispensable force with rising clout: Chinese media

BRICS nations contributed more than half of the global growth and their rising clout has made them indispensable to global "financial stability", official media here said today as China assumed Presidency of the five-member bloc that includes India.
The ninth summit of the leaders of BRICS is scheduled to be held in Xiamen, a coastal city in East China's Fujian province, in September under China's Presidency.
Highlighting China's perspective of the five member bloc, an article in the state-run China Daily today said "in the past decade, the BRICS, (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) bloc has contributed more than half the global growth".

"With 42.6 per cent of the world's total population and roughly one-third of the world's land area, it has a combined GDP that accounts for about one-fifth of the world's total," it said.
"At the same time, the group, with its rising international clout, has become an indispensable force behind global economic governance reforms and international financial stability," it said.
However, the gloomy global economic picture and fall in commodity prices have brought a lingering slowdown to haunt the BRICS' economies, overshadowing their effectiveness as drivers of the global economy, it said.

But the five economies have showed resilience thanks to their multi-faceted mechanism of cooperation and huge potential.

Despite the challenges, BRICS members have abundant natural and human resources, vast markets, huge growth potential and bright prospects in trade and investment, it said.
"Closer inter-BRICS cooperation and better coordination in multilateral platforms is the key to cope with the challenges and complexities of the global economic and political landscape," it said.
Apart from carrying out structural reforms to make their growth more balanced and sustainable, the five economies also need to coordinate their development strategies through such vehicles as the New Development Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Belt and Road Initiative (the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road), it said.

In the international arena, BRICS countries are expected to provide more solutions to gnawing global issues including terrorism and climate change through closer coordination.
"As a bloc that represents the interests of the developing world, BRICS is also counted on to drive the wheels of South- South Cooperation, improve global governance and establish a fair, just and inclusive international order," it said.
"Cooperation in economic and political fields has over the years emerged as the two 'wheels' of BRICS. The rise of the five emerging economies has brought profound changes to the world political and economic landscape.
"Under such circumstances, the group is bound to play a bigger role in international affairs as there is still much to be desired both in the international system and global governance," it said.

"Overall, there are enough reasons to believe BRICS will embrace an even brighter decade, which will also be a boon to the rest of the world," it said, adding that China will help anchor the international organisation in a better position to tackle global challenges and uncertainties.