BRICS SUMMIT 2019 - ब्रिक्स शिखर सम्मेलन

CONTEXT

• 11th BRICS Summit of 2019- Brasilia, Brazil 
•  Theme- Economic Growth for an innovative Future

About BRICS

• Members- Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa
• 5 major emerging countries
• 42% of the world's population
• 23% GDP
• 30% territory
• 18% Global trade
• The acronym BRIC was coined by- Goldman Sachs- 2001
• In 2006, BRIC countries started their dialogue, which since 2009 takes place at annual meetings of heads of state and govt.
• In 2011, South Africa joined the Group.

About BRICS 2019

• despite severe challenges on various fronts faced by these five countries, the group as a whole has adopted to the challenging times and proven its resilience.
• Build a common vision for world's economic future with an emphasis on multilateralism and a joint statement at Brasilia that publicly announced "unilateral and protectionist" actions.
• BRICS nations also present a vision for rules-based transparent, non-discriminatory, open free and inclusive international trade.

Importance for India

• The joint statement is equally important for India considering its sluggish economic growth, increasing unemployment and recent unacceptability of the RCEP trade agreement.
• However, For India, failure to resolve issues of RCEP with trading partners has raised suspicion and questions as to whether India with reverse Market Liberalisation and openness to trade which began in the 1990s.
• PM Modi & XI Jinping used the BRICS platform wisely and continued talks on bringing India back into the RCEP fold.
• Both India and China also focused on resolving their trade issues through the recently launched mechanism led by finance ministers.

Certain Concerns

• Despite the Cumulative popn of around 40% of BRCS countries, trade among BRICS countries still is only 15% of world trade.
• On this account, the editorial mentions that BRICS countries need to take serious actions to improve Trade among there.
• This will be good not only for Increased trade among BRICS nations but will also help in sustaining growth and creating jobs.

PM Modi on Intra-BRICS Trade

• PM Modi wished that intra-BRICS trade and Investment targets should be more ambitious and invited their suggestions to further reduce the cost of trade between the BRICS countries.
• PM said that Important intiatives such as innovations BRICS Network, and BRICS institution for future Network will be considered for discussions during the summit tomorrow.
• He requested the private sector to join these efforts focused on human resources.
• he also suggested that the five countries should also consider a mutual social security Agreement.

Way Forward

• Thus, it is greater connectivity and more trade that will allow the BRICS countries to claim their rightful space, and provide the leadership and energy that the global economic order needs urgently.