BRICS countries should jointly deal with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, deepen cooperation and strengthen coordination so as to fulfil responsibilities for international peace and global development, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Friday.
Mr. Wang made the remarks while attending the meeting of foreign ministers of BRICS on Friday via a video link.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov presided over the meeting.
Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor and Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo attended the meeting.
BRICS countries should jointly deal with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and jointly promote multilateralism, the recovery of the world economy, and political settlement of hot-spot issues, Mr. Wang, who is also the Chinese State Councilor, said.
He said at present, the world is facing a series of new threats and challenges: the COVID-19 pandemic poses a direct threat to human health; unilateral bullying poses a severe challenge to the international order; and protectionism has had a major impact on the world economy.
At the same time, it should be noted that the trend of the times featuring peace, development, cooperation and win-win results has not changed, the law of development that economic globalisation continues to move forward in twists and turns has not changed, and the basic trend of the rise of emerging economies represented by BRICS countries has not changed, Mr. Wang said.
“As long as we maintain unity and work together, the BRICS countries can further become a force for safeguarding world peace and stability. This serves the common interests of BRICS countries and will benefit the whole world,” Mr. Wang was quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua news agency.
The foreign ministers of the five participating countries had an in-depth exchange of views on the global situation, regional hot-spot issues and BRICS cooperation. All parties agreed that under the current circumstances, BRICS countries need to strengthen solidarity to meet challenges head-on, the report said.
The online meeting of the five foreign ministers took place in the backdrop of unsuccessful attempts by China to change the status quo in the eastern Ladakh region.
On Monday, the Indian Army said the Chinese military carried out “provocative military movements” to “unilaterally” change the status quo on the southern bank of Pangong lake on the intervening night of August 29 and 30 but the attempt was thwarted by the Indian troops.
The Russian Foriegn Ministry announced on August 27 that the foreign ministers of the BRICS bloc will hold a virtual meeting on September 4 during which they will focus on topical international issues and discuss cooperation between the five countries.
The BRICS is the acronym coined for an association of five major emerging national economies - Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
The meeting, hosted by Russia, was scheduled to be held earlier but had to be postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Published - September 05, 2020 04:29 am IST
