BRICS strategic partnership strengthened under India's chairship

As Indias chairship of the BRICS nears end, the member states on Wednesday acknowledged that the strategic partnership under the grouping was strengthened this year and the activities undertaken boosted cooperation while reinforcing the principles of continuity, consolidation, and consensus.This was noted during the BRICS Sherpas and Sous Sherpas fourth and concluding meeting under Indias chairship during the year 2021.

As India's chairship of the BRICS nears end, the member states on Wednesday acknowledged that the strategic partnership under the grouping was strengthened this year and the activities undertaken boosted cooperation while reinforcing the principles of continuity, consolidation, and consensus.

This was noted during the BRICS Sherpas and Sous Sherpas' fourth and concluding meeting under India's chairship during the year 2021. The meeting was chaired by Secretary (Consular, Passport, Visa & Overseas Indian Affairs) Sanjay Bhattacharyya as India's BRICS Sherpa.

The BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) brings together five of the largest developing countries of the world, representing 41 per cent of the global population, 24 per cent of the global GDP and 16 per cent of the global trade.

The meeting provided an opportunity to review the activities held this year, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement. For its chairship, India had chosen the theme 'BRICS@15: Intra BRICS Cooperation for Continuity, Consolidation and Consensus' with the following priorities: reform of the multilateral system; counter terrorism cooperation; using digital and technological solutions for attaining SDGs; and enhancing people to people exchanges.

The XIII BRICS Summit took place on September 9, 2021 in virtual format and the leaders adopted the Delhi Declaration which reaffirmed their commitment to fight the Covid pandemic, deepened the collaborative efforts of BRICS countries on political-security, economic and cultural fronts and gave new vitality to BRICS.

The BRICS Foreign Ministers in their meeting in June 2021 adopted the joint statement on strengthening and reforming the multilateral system to make global governance more responsive and agile, effective, transparent, democratic, representative and accountable to member states.

The revised BRICS terms of reference were adopted by Sherpas in September 2021 reiterating their commitment to preserving and further strengthening the consensus-based working methods in BRICS at all levels.

During the year, nearly 150 BRICS meetings and events were organised, of which about 20 were held at ministerial level, the MEA said.

Intra-BRICS cooperation was extended to new areas such as the inaugural BRICS Digital Health Summit and the 1st Meeting of BRICS Water Ministers.

Other achievements of India's chairship included BRICS Counter-Terrorism Action Plan, operationalisation of the Agricultural Research Platform, signing of agreement on cooperation in the field of remote-sensing satellites constellation, finalization of BRICS agreement on cooperation and mutual administrative assistance in customs matters, and finalization of agreement on cooperation in the field of regulation of medical products for human use.

During the meeting on Wednesday, the BRICS Gavel and Handover Report were passed over to China.

China also presented its priorities for its BRICS chairship which will commence from January 1, 2022, the statement said.

It said the BRICS partners commended India's chairship in 2021.

They appreciated the activities undertaken, despite the constraint of COVID-19 restrictions, which have led to further strengthening of intra-BRICS cooperation while reinforcing the principles of continuity, consolidation, and consensus, the MEA said.

They acknowledged that BRICS strategic partnership was strengthened during the year for the mutual benefit of the countries and people.

BRICS partners agreed to extend full support to China for its forthcoming BRICS chairship in 2022, the MEA said. India thanked its BRICS partners for their constructive engagement during its chairship year, during which BRICS has emerged stronger and more vibrant, it said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)