Xinhua Commentary: Vibrant BRICS to play bigger role in global development, governance

People walk near the venue of the 15th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, Aug. 21, 2023. (Xinhua/Zhang Yudong)

BEIJING, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- The 15th BRICS Summit that concluded in South Africa on Thursday demonstrates the vibrancy and appeal of the BRICS mechanism and the bigger role it will play in promoting development, safeguarding multilateralism and improving global governance.

In a historic expansion, six countries -- namely Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates -- were invited to become new BRICS members, with their membership starting on Jan. 1, 2024. This will inject fresh vitality into the BRICS cooperation mechanism, and further strengthen the forces for world peace and development.

Against the backdrop of the world's sluggish economy and other grave challenges, the first in-person BRICS summit since the COVID-19 pandemic enhanced the solidarity and cooperation of the BRICS countries and the Global South.

BRICS has been an important positive and stable force in shaping the international landscape and building a just and equitable world order. BRICS, which currently comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, accounts for 42 percent of the world's population and a quarter of global GDP. The Shanghai-based New Development Bank and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement exemplify fruitful and pragmatic cooperation under the mechanism.

Upholding the spirit of openness, inclusiveness and win-win cooperation, the BRICS mechanism represents an important cooperation platform for emerging markets and developing countries (EMDCs). The "BRICS Plus" cooperation approach, proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Xiamen Summit in 2017, has set a prime example of South-South cooperation and sought strength through unity among the EMDCs.

The collective rise of EMDCs represented by the BRICS is fundamentally changing the global landscape. EMDCs have contributed as high as 80 percent of global growth in the past 20 years, and their share in the global GDP has increased from 24 percent 40 years ago to more than 40 percent.

The world has entered a new period of turbulence and transformation, undergoing major shifts, division and regrouping. Impacted by the unprecedented pandemic and new uncertainties, developing countries are facing even more formidable challenges in realizing the U.N. 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. In addition, certain countries, entrenched in a Cold War mentality, have been sparing no effort to create division and confrontation in recent years to maintain their hegemony.

With such an increasingly complex international environment, the expanded BRICS group is widely expected to play a bigger role in promoting shared growth, safeguarding multilateralism, and contributing to more just and equitable global governance as well as a multipolar world.

Since its inception 17 years ago, the BRICS cooperation has been continuously substantiated and expanded. The mechanism has grown increasingly influential. The membership expansion marked a new starting point for BRICS.

As a developing country and a member of the Global South, China is ready to continue pursuing the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind, enhancing the strategic partnership, and deepening cooperation across the board to jointly shape a brighter future and meet the common aspirations of peoples of the BRICS members and the world at large.