President Xi says economic cooperation crucial

President Xi Jinping has called for joint efforts with other BRICS members to usher in the second dynamic decade of the emerging markets' bloc to benefit the people of all countries.

In his keynote speech at the BRICS Business Forum in coastal Xiamen, Fujian province, on Sunday, Xi said the BRICS members－Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa－have set up a number of cooperative institutions, such as the New Development Bank, in the 10 years following the launch of the BRICS mechanism in 2006.

The BRICS countries have made great contributions to global economic growth and benefited more than 3 billion people despite the shadow of the 2008 global financial crisis, Xi said. The five countries' economies have grown in total by 179 percent in the past decade, with trade volume rising by 94 percent and the urbanized population by 28 percent in the same period, he added.

Noting that the BRICS members are facing the same development goals in spite of their different national situations, Xi said that "economic cooperation is the foundation of the BRICS mechanism."

The emerging markets and developing countries should make positive contributions to global economic growth through such measures as pushing to build an open world economy, facilitating trade and investment and making new global value chains, he said.

The development of emerging markets and developing countries is not intended to harm anyone's interests "but to make the pie of the global economy bigger", he said.

Noting that the BRICS countries will have dialogue with five other emerging markets and developing countries during the summit, Xi said the BRICS Plus cooperation mode should be promoted to benefit more emerging markets and developing countries.

"It's easy to break one arrow but hard to break 10 arrows bundled together," he said.

The president called on the BRICS countries to shoulder responsibility for safeguarding world peace and seeking cooperation instead of confrontation. He noted that this year, while China has held the rotating presidency of BRICS, the group has enhanced security cooperation.

"We should uphold the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and basic norms governing international relations, firmly support multilateralism, work for greater democracy in international relations and oppose hegemonism and power politics," he said.

Xi said that because of differences in national situations, history and culture, it's inevitable that the five countries will have disagreements, but as long as they uphold cooperation and boost mutual trust, their path of cooperation will be stable.

The president also highlighted the importance of people-to-people exchanges with such events as cultural festivals, movie festivals and sports games under the BRICS framework, which he said will boost friendship between the peoples of the five countries.

Brazilian President Michel Temer and South African President Jacob Zuma attended the opening of the BRICS Business Forum, a sideline event of the BRICS Summit. About 1,200 people, including more than 1,000 senior executives of 630 companies from China and abroad, joined the two-day forum.

Xi spoke highly of the contributions of business leaders to building economic partnership among BRICS members. He vowed to encourage Chinese companies to invest overseas and welcome foreign companies to expand their business in China.