Leaders gather at BRICS summit to discuss opportunities, challenges

BRICS

Leaders gather at BRICS summit to discuss opportunities, challenges

Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa-the BRICS last came together in Hangzhou for the G20. Now headed for Goa, India, there is much to applaud since the first BRICS summit in 2009, but leaders will also voice concerns for the future.

CCTV America’s Nathan King reports.

The BRICS New Development Bank set up in just three years, has made its first loans of over $900 million this year.

There are also plans for a BRICS credit rating agency to break a western monopoly on the industry-one that would treat developing countries more fairly. Visa restrictions could be eased between the nations, too. Expect to see more investment projects from China.

But there are strong headwinds against BRICS economies this year.

Growth is slowing across the world and in developed countries there’s growing opposition to free trade agreements.

“There are trends in the world today, which on the surface do indicate that the world is increasingly moving towards, at least a part of the developed world is moving towards protectionism. These worries are real and they are real because of the fact that if developed countries see a trend of protectionism, the spillover impact of those policies on other parts of the world would be extremely adverse,” Indian Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley said.

Ahead of the summit the grouping’s five trade ministers highlighted economic uncertainly following the United Kingdom’s vote to leave the European Union, the U.S. Presidential election, and overcapacity in the global economy. The threat of terrorism will also be on the agenda.

“We will be looking at the global economic and political situation and obviously terrorism is a very important part of that. Then we will look at global growth prospects, role of BRICS in leading this global growth and our contributions to it. Then, in way forward, we look at BRICS cooperation and BRICS cooperation with other emerging economies,” Indian Foreign Ministry, Amar Sinha said.

Despite obstacles to integration and policy coordination the BRICS grouping remains the most powerful of like-minded states who aim to make emerging market economies and developing nations have a bigger say in international affairs.


Zhu Xian on China’s geo-economic initiatives

It’s been one year since the BRICS New Development Bank launched operations in China’s financial hub, Shanghai. CCTV’s Su Yuting spoke to its vice president and chief operations officer, Zhu Xian, who said the bank was supporting many infrastructure and green-energy projects in developing countries.


Sung Won Sohn on BRICS summit preview

For more about the expectations for BRICS summit, CCTV America’s Mike Walter interviewed California State University, Channel Islands, economics professor, Sung Won Sohn