8th BRICS Summit 2016 - At A Glance

Dear Readers,

India hosted the 8^th BRICS Summit during its Chairmanship which is scheduled to take place on 15-16 October 2016 in Benaulim, Goa. The theme of India’s BRICS Chairmanship is Building Responsive, Inclusive and Collective Solutions.

Know About BRICS:

BRICS brings together five major emerging economies (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), comprising 43% of the world population, having 30% of the world GDP and 17% share in the world trade.

Formation of BRICS:

The acronym BRIC was first used in 2001 by Goldman Sachs in their Global Economics Paper, "The World Needs Better Economic BRICs" on the basis of econometric analyses projecting that the economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China would individually and collectively occupy far greater economic space and would be amongst the world’s largest economies in the next 50 years or so. 

As a formal grouping, BRIC started after the meeting of the Leaders of Russia, India and China in St. Petersburg on the margins of G8 Outreach Summit in 2006. The grouping was formalized during the 1st meeting of BRIC Foreign Ministers on the margins of UNGA in New York in 2006. The 1st BRIC Summit was held in Yekaterinburg, Russia, on 16 June 2009. 

It was agreed to expand BRIC into BRICS with the inclusion of South Africa at the BRIC Foreign Ministers’ meeting in New York in September 2010. Accordingly, South Africa attended the 3rd BRICS Summit in Sanya, China on 14 April 2011. 

Previous Host Country of BRICS:

Seven BRICS Summits have taken place so far. The 8th BRICS Summit will be hosted by India during its Chairmanship in 2016. The earlier Summits were held as under :

i) 1^st BRIC Summit - 16 June 2009 in Russia (Yekaterinburg)

ii) 2^nd BRIC Summit: 16 April 2010 in Brazil (Brasilia)

iii) 3^rd BRICS Summit: 14 April 2011 in China (Sanya)

iv) 4^th BRICS Summit: 29 March 2012 in India (New Delhi)

v) 5^th BRICS Summit: 26 –27 March 2013 in South Africa (Durban)

vi) 6^th BRICS Summit: 14–16 July 2014 in Brazil (Fortaleza)

vii) 7^th BRICS Summit: 8-9 July 2015 in Russia (Ufa) 

Agenda of 8^th BRICS:

Starting essentially with economic issues of mutual interest, the agenda of BRICS meetings has considerably widened over the years to encompass topical global issues. BRICS cooperation has two pillars – consultation on issues of mutual interest through meetings of Leaders as well as of Ministers of Finance, Trade, Health, S&T, Education, Agriculture, Communication, Labour, etc. and practical cooperation in a number of areas through meetings of Working Groups/Senior Officials. Regular annual Summits as well as meetings of Leaders on the margins of G20 Summits are held.

Theme of  8^th BRICS:

The theme of India’s BRICS Chairmanship is Building Responsive, Inclusive and Collective Solutions.

Key Highlights of Goa Declaration:

i) BRICS nations condemns terrorism in all its forms and stressed that there can be no justification for such acts.

ii) International terrorism, especially the Islamic State (IS) is an unprecedented threat to international peace and security.

iii) BRICS nations reaffirmed the commitment to increase effectiveness of the UN counter terrorism framework.

iv) Need for adaptation of Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) in the UN General Assembly.

v) Urgent need to reforms of the United Nations, including UN Security Council, to increase representation of developing countries.

vi) Resolution of civil war in Syria, in accordance with the “legitimate aspirations of the people of Syria” and action against U.N.-designated terrorist groups like IS and Jabhat al-Nusra.

vii) All nations must counter radicalism and block sources of financing international terrorism, dismantling terrorist bases and countering misuse of the Internet including social media.

viii) Appreciated progress in implementation of Strategy for BRICS Economic Partnership and emphasise importance of BRICS Roadmap for Trade, Economic and Investment Cooperation until 2020.

ix) Welcomed adoption of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals.

x) Reiterated determination to use all policy tools to achieve the goal of sustainable and inclusive growth.

xi) The ninth BRICS Summit will be hosted by China in 2017.

Besides, first-ever BRICS-BIMSTEC Outreach Summit was also held on side-lines of 2016 BRICS Summit. Leaders from both forums planned to jointly explore possibilities of expanding ties between them on issues such as terrorism, economy, trade and connectivity. BIMSTEC stands for Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation. BIMSTEC member countries are Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal. 

BRICS Adopted five-pronged Approach:

During India’s BRICS Chairmanship, BRICS adopted five-pronged approach:

(i) Institution building to further deepen, sustain and institutionalise BRICS cooperation;

(ii) Implementation of the decisions from previous Summits;

(iii) Integrating the existing cooperation mechanisms;

(iv) Innovation, i.e., new cooperation mechanisms; and

(v) Continuity, i.e., continuation of mutually agreed existing BRICS cooperation mechanisms.

Next Host Country of 9^th BRICS:

The next summit of the BRICS association of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa will be held in China’s Xiamen in September 2017.

Conclusion:

In short, the Indian approach towards its BRICS Chairmanship could be captured by ‘IIIIC or I4C’. The focus during India’s BRICS Chairmanship will be on enhanced people-to-people (P2P) contacts of BRICS member states, especially youth. In this context, India has planned activities like U-17 Football Tournament, Youth Summit, Young Diplomats’ Forum, Film Festival etc.