BRICS countries important force on international stage to be reckoned with: Chinese President Xi

The BRICS countries have become an important force on the international stage to be reckoned with, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Thursday, as he called for deepening cooperation among the member states to build a closer and more results-oriented partnership to meet common challenges.

Addressing the 13th BRICS summit presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi via video link, Xi said the five-member bloc should consolidate their strategic partnership, support each other on issues concerning their respective core interests, and jointly safeguard their sovereignty, security and development interests.

Over the past 15 years, the BRICS countries have enhanced strategic communication and political trust in the spirit of openness, inclusiveness and equality, respected each other's social system and development path, and explored sound ways for countries to interact with each other, he said.

While seeking synergy between their development policies and drawing on their complementarities, the five countries have made solid progress in various areas of cooperation in the spirit of pragmatism, innovation and win-win cooperation, and have forged ahead on the common journey of development, Xi said.

The BRICS countries have become an important force on the international stage to be reckoned with, Xi, also the General Secretary of the ruling Communist Party of China, emphasised.

The BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) have supported multilateralism and taken part in global governance in the spirit of equity, justice, and mutual assistance, he said.

''What has happened shows that come what may, we can make smooth, solid and sustained progress in BRICS cooperation as long as we pull our minds and our efforts,'' he was quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua news agency.

In his speech, Xi made five proposals for practical cooperation within the BRICS bloc, which included strengthening unity.

Under the current circumstances, it is important for BRICS countries to stay resolved, strengthen unity and further enhance the quality of practical cooperation, Xi said.

His five proposals included strengthening public health cooperation in the spirit of solidarity- strengthen international cooperation on vaccines in the spirit of equitable access for all- strengthen economic cooperation in the spirit of mutual benefit- strengthen political and security cooperation in the spirit of fairness and justice- strengthen people-to-people exchanges in the spirit of mutual learning.

Xi also announced that China will donate 100 million more doses of COVID-19 vaccines to developing countries by the end of 2021.

China will strive to provide a total of two billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to the world by the end of this year, said Xi, noting that China, to date, has provided more than 1 billion doses of finished and bulk vaccines to over 100 countries and international organisations.

''We need to step up to our political responsibility, support each other's COVID response, and share relevant information and COVID control experience. We need to pursue practical cooperation on vaccines, including joint research and production and mutual recognition of standards,'' he said.

Xi also suggested an early launch of the BRICS Vaccine R&D Center in virtual format. It is also important to strengthen cooperation on traditional medicine to develop more tools against the virus, Xi said. China will take over as the chair of BRICS and host the 14th BRICS summit next year, Xi said, adding that Beijing looks forward to working with the BRICS partners to deepen cooperation in all areas and build a closer and more results-oriented partnership to meet common challenges and create a better future.

Xi also called for strengthening political and security cooperation in the spirit of fairness and justice.

"We need to consolidate the BRICS strategic partnership, support each other on issues concerning our respective core interests, and jointly safeguard our sovereignty, security and development interests", Xi said.

BRICS countries need to make good use of mechanisms such as the meeting of foreign ministers and the meeting of high representatives for security, better coordinate their position on major international and regional issues, and send out an even bigger, collective voice, he said.

The BRICS Counter-Terrorism Action Plan, adopted earlier this year, should be implemented in real earnest, he said He said the five countries need to earnestly implement the Strategy for BRICS Economic Partnership 2025, and expand cooperation in such areas as trade and investment, technology and innovation, and green and low-carbon development.

He said China proposes to host a BRICS high-level meeting on climate change and a BRICS forum on big data for sustainable development.

"We welcome the substantive progress made in expanding the membership of the New Development Bank (NDB), and look forward to a bigger role of the NDB in supporting the development of its members and in global economic and financial affairs," he said.

India is this year's chair for the five-member bloc that holds the rotating Presidency. This was the second time Prime Minister Modi chaired the BRICS summit. Earlier, he had chaired the Goa summit in 2016.

The summit was also attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

The theme of the summit was ''Intra-BRICS cooperation for continuity, consolidation and consensus.'' The summit this year coincides with the 15th anniversary of the BRICS.

The BRICS bloc 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.