President Xi says BRICS cooperation will usher in new 'golden decade'

Chinese President Xi Jinping said on June 19 that BRICS cooperation would be more productive and usher in a new "golden decade."

Xi made the remarks when meeting with the heads of delegations from Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa, who are in Beijing to attend the BRICS foreign ministers' meeting.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi chaired the meeting, which also included Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Brazilian Foreign Minister Aloysio Nunes, South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Maite Nkoana-Mashabane and India's Minister of State for External Affairs Vijay Kumar Singh.

Xi extended congratulations on the success of the meeting and thanked other BRICS members for their support.

He said that BRICS countries faced the common task of safeguarding domestic stability and development, creating a favorable international environment and working to make the international order more just and equitable.

"The BRICS cooperation is an innovation, which transcends the old pattern of political and military alliance and pursues partnerships rather than alliances," Xi said.

"The BRICS mechanism surpasses the old mindset of zero-sum game and practices a new concept of mutual benefit and win-win cooperation," he said.

He said that the cooperation mechanism fitted the needs of the five nations as well as the historical trend.

"The BRICS cooperation mechanism has been in existence for 10 years and BRICS members have focused on development, which not only benefits the people in the five countries but also offers a recipe for the world to address food and security problems," Xi said.

"BRICS countries are a community of shared interests and future," Xi said.

He urged the countries to give full play to the win-win spirit and jointly contribute to the development of the organization.

Xi called on all countries to continue to prioritize development, follow multilateralism and the basic norms of international relations.

"As long as we think and work toward the same goal, the BRICS cooperation will be more productive and usher in a new golden decade," the president said.

The five countries' share in the global economy increased from 12 percent to 23 percent in the past decade while contributing to more than half of global growth.

To help finance infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS and other emerging economies and developing countries, China co-founded the BRICS New Development Bank in 2014 with its headquarters in Shanghai.

It became fully operational in 2016 when the bank approved loans involving financial assistance of over 1.5 billion U.S. dollars for projects in green and renewable energy, and transport.

The heads of delegations thanked China for promoting BRICS cooperation as rotating chair, saying the BRICS is an emerging and promising mechanism.

They said all members should closely collaborate and jointly address global challenges, expressing confidence that the BRICS cooperation would further enhance the well-being and prominence of the BRICS.

They said their countries would work with China to strengthen BRICS cooperation and support China in hosting a successful BRICS summit in Xiamen in September.