BEIJING, June 2 (Xinhua) -- The BRICS, with its five major members hailing from different continents, is a very significant voice for inclusive and multipolar development, said experts.
Given the fact that these are vital countries from their respective continents, they can come together and voice a certain consensus on major global issues, especially the world economy.
The ninth annual BRICS summit is set to be held in Xiamen, China, Sept. 3-5. The summit will be a time to reflect on a decade of the BRICS' growing presence on the global economic stage.
Economic growth marks one of the key merits of the group. The five countries' share in global GDP increased from about 12 percent to 23 percent in the past decade while contributing to more than half of global growth.
Sudheendra Kulkarni, Chairman of Observer Research foundation Mumbai in India, says the global economy needs a boost, and the BRICS might just be the answer.
The world economy has has suffered a slowdown in recent years, said Kulkarni in a recent interview with Xinhua.
"Therefore it is important that five countries -- Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa -- are together to give strong momentum to the continuation of globalization," said Kulkarni.
According to Kulkarni, the so-called developed north represented by Europe and the United States is no longer dominating the world economy. The world economy is increasingly being driven by countries in Asia and even Africa.
The BRICS is an important manifestation of multiplicity and multilateralism in the age of global interdependence, said B.R. Deepak, a professor at the Center for Chinese and Southeast Asian Studies of Jawaharlal Nehru University.
The BRICS and its New Development Bank represent the aspirations of the largest developing economies to have their due seats at the table of international systems of governance, Deepak said.
The BRICS bank was set up with an initial authorized capital of 100 billion U.S. dollars during the sixth BRICS Summit in Fortaleza, Brazil, in 2014. It officially opened in Shanghai in 2015.
According to the International Monetary Fund, the BRICS and other developing countries were responsible for 80 percent of global growth in 2016.
The newly established institutions will increasingly serve as a bridge between developing and developed countries, becoming instrumental in pushing global economic growth, and more importantly furthering South-South cooperation at various levels, the professor said.
Building on the success of the past ten years, the BRICS now eyes starting a new decade with a more expansive partnership to seek inclusive growth.0 Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in March 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.
The proposal for "BRICS Plus" is "not only timely in the light of China's presidency in BRICS," but provides new opportunities for expansion during a time when protectionism is spreading in the world economy, said chief economist of the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) Yaroslav Lissovolik.
At the same time, he believes the "BRICS Plus" system should reach out to developed countries, and in this process the role of China is paramount.
"China's role here is very important, because the Silk Road project links the developing countries with the developed ones, the East and the West, so it can become one of the key chains in terms of megaprojects linking the North, South, West and East," he said.
