SATV, Kathmandu, Sept. 11 - Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi, India, from September 12 to 13 at the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday.
Over the past two decades, BRICS has grown into a major platform for cooperation among emerging markets and developing countries, with an ever-expanding role in global affairs.
China, as a staunch supporter and active participant in BRICS, has consistently upheld the BRICS Spirit of openness, inclusiveness and win-win cooperation, working with its partners to turn shared aspirations into practical cooperation and advance common development.
At the upcoming summit, Xi will join other leaders in charting a new course for the high-quality development of greater BRICS cooperation, pooling the collective strength of the Global South and contributing stability and positive momentum to a world undergoing profound changes.
Building stronger BRICS
In March 2013, Xi attended the fifth BRICS Summit in Durban, South Africa. It was his first international summit as Chinese president.
"We, the five BRICS countries, come from four different continents. The grand goal of fostering partnership for common development and the noble cause of promoting democracy in international relations and advancing peace and development of mankind have brought us together," he said in a keynote speech at the summit.
Xi called on BRICS countries to move toward the goal of integrated markets, multi-tiered financial network, connectivity by land, air and sea, and greater cultural exchanges.
Two years later, at the seventh BRICS Summit held in Ufa, Russia, Xi called for building a partnership for world peace, common development, inter-civilization dialogue and more effective global economic governance.
When China was the BRICS chair back in 2017, Xi proposed the "BRICS Plus" cooperation model at the ninth BRICS Summit in Xiamen, calling for getting more emerging markets and developing countries involved in the group's concerted endeavors for cooperation and mutual benefits.
In October 2024, the 16th BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia, marked the first BRICS leaders' offline summit since the group's expansion. "It is for our shared pursuit and for the overarching trend of peace and development that we BRICS countries have come together," Xi said in a speech at the summit.
Building on this vision, Xi proposed building a BRICS committed to peace, innovation, green development, justice and closer people-to-people exchanges.
Xi has advanced BRICS cooperation through "highly constructive proposals," bringing more Global South countries that share a vision of a multipolar world into dialogue and practical cooperation, thereby strengthening the appeal and influence of BRICS, said Alexander Gusev, director of Russia's Institute for Strategic Planning and Forecasting.
Today, BRICS has expanded to 11 member countries and 10 partner countries, becoming a force for advancing a multipolar world and greater democracy in international relations.
BRICS countries account for nearly half of the world's population, around 30% of the global economy and one-fifth of global trade.
"China seeks the greatest common ground for cooperation through equal dialogue, builds consensus around shared interests, and continuously strengthens the cohesion and capacity for action of BRICS cooperation," said Mohamed Hussein, first deputy head of Egypt's State Information Service.
BRICS is a platform with great potential while strengths and differences among its members are an asset, said Marcos Cordeiro Pires, a professor of political and economic sciences at the Sao Paulo State University.
In a world undergoing profound changes, BRICS is amplifying the voices of Global South countries in demands for better governance, more security and the right to development, said Pires.
BRICS in action
At Xiamen Port in east China's Fujian Province, a major hub for international shipping, the BRICS Go-Global Express officially kicked off in late July, providing a new bridge for Chinese companies to expand into BRICS markets abroad.
The inaugural event focused on Nigeria, which officially became a BRICS partner country last year. Hassan Mohammed, commissioner of the Trade Division at the Consulate General of Nigeria in Shanghai, said the BRICS Plus framework had created more platforms for exchanges and brought the two countries closer together.
