BEIJING, Aug. 31 (Xinhuanet) -- The BRICS grouping the five emerging economies -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- is of great importance to emerging economies and developing countries, said several experts in international relations during recent interviews with Xinhuanet.
“BRICS nations currently account for nearly a quarter of the world economy and contributed more than half of global economic growth in 2016,” said Li Jianmin, a researcher on Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).
They are not only an important driving force for global economic development, but also the leaders among emerging-market economies, said Lu Jing, the Incumbent Director of the Institute of International Relations (IIR) of China Foreign Affairs University (CFAU).
Apart from burgeoning economic growth, BRICS has become an irreplaceable force in global governance, pushing the international order in a fairer and more reasonable direction, said Zhang Haibing, Director of the Institute for World Economy Studies, Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (SIIS).
BRICS nations have managed to increase the representation and say of developing countries in major international organizations such as International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank in recent years.
They have contributed to safeguarding the interests of developing countries as a whole while championing an open and multilateral world order against a growing tide of protectionism, Li Jianmin said.
In March this year, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that China would explore a BRICS expansion, known as "BRICS Plus," and build a wider partnership with other major developing countries and organizations, so as to turn BRICS into the most-influential platform for South-South cooperation in the world.
According to Zhang Haibing, by uniting more emerging market economies, BRICS Plus would expand "the circle of friends" and enhance the resilience of BRICS cooperation.
Lu Jing hopes that “flexible and diversified mode of cooperation can be explored through dialogue with other developing countries”, so that stronger growth momentum will appear in the emerging economies.
Li Jianmin believes that the modality will help expand both bilateral and multilateral trade between BRICS nations and other developing countries, thus benefiting the emerging market.
Li has also pointed out that one of the major obstacles to development in emerging economies is the lack of infrastructure.
The New Development Bank (NDB), which launched business in east China's Shanghai in July 2015, offers a solution by financing infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS and other emerging economies, Li added.
As a bank established by world’s major emerging economies, it supplements the existing international financial system in a healthy way, and shows the growing role of BRICS and other emerging markets in the world economy.
