The 2024 BRICS Young Leaders Forum is held in Kazan, Russia, Sept. 25, 2024. (Xinhua/Cao Yang)

The 16th BRICS Summit will kick off on Tuesday in Russia's Kazan, marking the first face-to-face gathering among leaders of the grouping after its historic expansion.

In this multicultural city, Chinese President Xi Jinping and his BRICS colleagues will chart the course for "greater BRICS cooperation."

During the three-day summit, the leaders are expected to forge consensus on consolidating joint efforts for common development, push for vibrant multilateral cooperation, and offer their wisdom for building a better world for all.

PROSPERITY FOR ALL

"Our main goal is to provide an understandable and very clear service platform for BRICS and BRICS plus countries ... to enter the Chinese market," Mekhri Aliev, executive director of the Institute for Digital Economy and Artificial Systems (IDEAS) at BRICS Partnership on New Industrial Revolution (PartNIR) Innovation Center, told Xinhua.

While addressing the 12th BRICS summit via video link in November 2020, Xi announced China's plan to set up an innovation center in Xiamen, a city in China's eastern province of Fujian, for a BRICS partnership on the new industrial revolution.

After the innovation center was launched a month later, IDEAS became one of the first projects promoted and signed by the BRICS PartNIR Innovation Center.

Besides advancing BRICS collaboration, the innovation center has been devoted to nurture talent. Since 2023, it has held more than 10 training sessions, drawing more than 100 participants from across over 70 countries. Among them, sessions tailored for the eight priority areas of the Global Development Initiative were particularly popular.

The BRICS mechanism provides great opportunities for the development of countries and that of qualified human resources, said Jose Orlando Gomes, an industrial engineering professor at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. "We need to train our new talents ... and we need more cooperation to have a sustainable future."

A signing ceremony is held at the BRICS Partnership on New Industrial Revolution Innovation Center in Xiamen, southeast China's Fujian Province, Sept. 7, 2021. (Xinhua/Lin Shanchuan)

The inception of the innovation center is a testimony to BRICS countries' focus on development and cooperation. Ushering in a new era for greater BRICS cooperation, BRICS countries have been pooling more efforts in such areas as digital economy, green development and supply chains.

"We need to promote development and prosperity for all," Xi said in a speech read out by Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao at the BRICS Business Forum 2023, adding that with perseverance, hard work and huge sacrifices, many emerging markets and developing countries succeeded in gaining independence, and "everything we do is to deliver better lives to our people."

Today, a growing number of countries are applying for BRICS membership, and many show huge interest in participating BRICS cooperation for the benefit of their people. Thailand, among others, announced its application in June.

"Joining BRICS will benefit Thailand in many ways, including advancing cooperation with other developing countries and increasing its influence in the international arena," said Tang Zhimin, director of China ASEAN Studies at the Bangkok-based Panyapiwat Institute of Management.

BRICS "has become an engine of growth for the world economy and plays an important role in global policymaking," Tang added.

WIN-WIN COMMUNITY

The New Development Bank (NDB) set up by BRICS has delivered impressive achievements since its establishment nine years ago. Headquartered in Shanghai, it has cumulatively approved loans of 35 billion U.S. dollars for more than 100 projects.

The NDB is a flagship project of BRICS cooperation supported and promoted by Xi. As the first multilateral development bank established by emerging economies, the NDB provides financing support for infrastructure development, clean energy, environmental protection, and the building of cyber infrastructure across BRICS countries.

During talks with NDB President Dilma Rousseff in October 2023, Xi said that as an important emerging force in the international financial system, the NDB should play its due role, and build itself into a new-type multilateral development institution in the 21st century that works to make the international financial system fairer and more equitable and effectively enhance the representation and say of emerging markets and developing countries.

An aerial drone photo taken on June 17, 2022 shows the headquarters building of the New Development Bank (NDB) in east China's Shanghai. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe)

In recent years, the NDB has been committed to South-South cooperation in an efficient and pragmatic manner. Funding a raft of projects ranging from India's urban rail to Brazil's wind power complexes and China's roads development, it has set a benchmark for multilateral cooperation and made substantial contributions to improving global governance.

In August, the NDB signed a 5 billion rand (284 million dollars) loan agreement with Transnet, South Africa's leading freight transport and logistics company, to support the modernization and improvement of its freight rail sector.

By financing in South Africa's local currency, the NDB demonstrates its commitment to promoting local currency financing among its member countries. This approach better serves the interests of emerging markets and developing countries, and enhances their financial resilience.

Expanding the use of local currencies is one of the NDB's key strategic objectives, Rousseff said at the 9th NDB Annual Meeting in August.

"The use of local currency is ... one strategic option," she said, adding that the bank aims to provide 30 percent of total financing in the local currencies of borrowing members.

MORE JUST WORLD ORDER

"BRICS countries need to champion the spirit of inclusiveness, advocate peaceful coexistence and harmony between civilizations, and promote respect of all countries in independently choosing their modernization paths," Xi addressed the 15th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg in August last year.

He urged BRICS countries to make good use of various mechanisms to deepen people-to-people exchanges and strengthen the bond between their peoples.

Through the years, BRICS countries have created a variety of platforms, notably the BRICS Media Summit, the BRICS Seminar on Governance, the BRICS Civilization Dialogue, and the BRICS Young Leaders Forum, to facilitate dialogue and communication among officials, scholars and youth.

Artists from Russia perform music during the BRICS Civilization Dialogue in Kazan, Russia, Sept. 24, 2024. (Xinhua/Cao Yang)

Vasiliy Pushkov, director of the Directorate of International Cooperation of the International Information Agency and Radio Sputnik, said that the BRICS mechanism represents multipolarity, and diverse interests and civilizations.

BRICS countries should continue to strengthen their solidarity and cooperation, enhance mutual understanding and dialogue among civilizations, and continue to amplify the voice of the majority of people on this planet, Pushkov said.

"The vast majority of the world's population is interested in and enthusiastic about this shift towards a more balanced and representative global governance system," said Carlos Martinez, a British author and political commentator.

Noting that BRICS has emerged as "the core of this multipolar world" alongside other global and regional organizations, Martinez said, "it is essential to move away from the dominance of Western voices and allow countries from the Global South to have a meaningful say in international relations."

"BRICS, with its focus on inclusivity and equality, serves as a shining star of this new type of international relations," he said.