BRICS think tank discuss on global governance and multilateralism
By Yan Huan, Zhang Jinruo and Qu Song
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(Photos: Yan Huan, Zhang Jinruo and Qu Song/People's Daily)

Beijing (People's Daily) - The 2019 BRICS Think Tank International Symposium was held in Beijing on Wednesday. It was the first BRICS Think Tank conference of this year, and had the theme “Global Governance and Multilateralism.” It aimed to provide a multilateral platform for BRICS countries to carry on academic exchanges and cooperation. Scholars from BRICS countries got together and offered their advice and suggestions on deepening the partner relationship among BRICS countries.

Vice-minister Long Guoqiang, a research fellow of the Development Research Center of the State Council, attended the symposium and gave a keynote speech. He said the global governance system is quite complicated but abundant. The current system has developed though gradual evolution and continuous perfection, and now is entering a new phase with accelerating revolutions. To make global governance rules, the BRICS countries should not only fully realize the equality between all members, but also attend the interests of both developed and developing countries, finding their common needs. The current multilateral trade system has contributed greatly to the world’s prosperity and peace. In his opinion, BRICS countries should also notice that with the improvement of the international position of the emerging market economies and developing countries in global trade and investment, the current multilateral trade rules need adjustments to meet the changes. Therefore, all the countries should understand WTO reforms from the perspective of enhancing operational efficiency and maintaining its authority, in order to improve the multilateral trade system’s efficiency. BRICS, as representative countries of emerging market economies and developing countries, can consider the WTO reforms as a new area of collaboration, and do research together.

Luan Jianzhang, general secretary of the China council for BRICS think-tank cooperation, stated that currently, the global governance system and the international situation are unprecedentedly unbalanced, causing an increasingly severe “governance deficit,” which results in practical problems including a reform deficit, a rules deficit and a responsibility deficit . To change this situation, BRICS members should insist on the principle of “consultation, contribution and shared benefits” to promote a revolution of the global governance system. In this progress, BRICS should strengthen solidarity and cooperation, defend multilateralism and promote democracy in international relations It’s important for BRICS countries to join hands in offering sound and practical opinions to the world.

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Claudio Puty.

Claudio Puty, associate professor from Federal University of Para of Brazil set forth the importance of BRICS cooperation in the context of the current international situation. He commented that the BRICS have already achieved great progress since the 2017 BRICS Summit. For example, the BRICS countries have built a multilateral strategic partnership while developing economic and trade relations. However, the international order is changing faster than ever before, and the BRICS countries and other developing countries have also encountered challenges. Therefore, it has been crucial for them to collaborate and look for multilateralism. “The BRICS and ‘the Belt and Road Initiative’ have obviously offered us opportunities to break suck deadlocks,” Puty said.

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Boris Shmelev.

Boris Shmelev, director of the Russian Foreign Policy Center, proposes that the work of the BRICS think tanks is to analyze and solve issues that can exert an important impact on the development of today’s world. People need to have a better understanding of current developments, which are always full of ups and downs. It is also important to analyze and learn from China’s experience. “The success of China can be a new model of development and may provide references for both north and south countries.” He believed that China’s answers to these questions can help to find more realistic development policies and better build a global governance system.

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HHS Viswanathan.

“The timing is perfect,” HHS Viswanathan, distinguished researcher for the Observer Research Foundation, said in his speech. He said the scholars’ discussions can now provide wisdom for global governance. This topic is not only for BRICS countries alone, for the world. Multilateralism, from his point of view, is a trend in the background of globalization, not only emphasizing moderation, but also stressing reform. Unilateralism has emerged and eroded the positive results of multilateralism.

“Speed is not the only criteria,” said Davhana Reckson Thakhathi, professor of Public Administration of University of Fort Hare from South Africa. He pointed out that the principle of global governance must be independent, fair and transparent.