BRICS cooperation mechanism

BRIC was an acronym coined by the US Goldman Sachs in 2003 to call the four promising emerging economies: Brazil, Russia, India and China. Foreign ministers of these four countries had their first meeting on the margins of the UN General Assembly in September 2006, and this became an annual event afterwards. In June 2009, the state leaders of the BRIC countries held a formal meeting in Russia, thus starting their partnership under the BRIC mechanism. With the formal inclusion of South Africa in December 2010, the group became the BRICS.

The BRICS mechanism has seen improvements with pragmatic cooperation in dozens of fields such as economy and trade, finance and banking, education, science and technology, culture and think-tanks. Under the inter-governmental mechanism there are summits of state leaders, ministerial meetings, seminars and forums, as well as multi-layer supportive mechanisms such as the BRICS Interbank Cooperation Mechanism, the Business Council, the Contingent Reserve Arrangement, the New Development Bank, and the Think-tank Symposiums.

During the 2017 BRICS Xiamen Summit, Xi Jinping proposed the "BRICS Plus" approach to cooperation. He suggested more dialogs between BRICS countries and other developing countries and their organizations to build extensive partnerships, make more friends, and turn BRICS into a most influential platform for South-South cooperation. By early 2018, the BRICS countries had set up some 60 mechanisms for cooperation, covering economy and trade, finance, agriculture, education, science and technology, culture and think-tanks.

The BRICS cooperation has broken the world economic configuration that was long dominated by developed countries, and offers a practical approach for economic cooperation among developing countries for common development. This serves as a strong leverage on the reform and transformation of the international order, and makes helpful exploration for building a new type of international relations.

金磚國(guó)家合作機(jī)制

“金磚國(guó)家”最初是指巴西、俄羅斯、印度和中國(guó)四個(gè)成長(zhǎng)前景看好的新興市場(chǎng)國(guó)家。這一概念由美國(guó)高盛公司于2003年提出。2006年9月，上述四國(guó)外長(zhǎng)在聯(lián)合國(guó)大會(huì)期間舉行首次外長(zhǎng)會(huì)晤，此后每年依例舉行。2009年6月，“金磚四國(guó)”領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人在俄羅斯舉行首次正式會(huì)晤，金磚國(guó)家合作機(jī)制正式啟動(dòng)。2010年12月，南非正式加入后，這一合作機(jī)制由最初的“金磚四國(guó)”變?yōu)椤敖鸫u五國(guó)”。

金磚合作機(jī)制建設(shè)伴隨著務(wù)實(shí)合作不斷健全完善。金磚國(guó)家在經(jīng)貿(mào)、財(cái)金、教育、科技、文化、智庫(kù)等數(shù)十個(gè)領(lǐng)域開(kāi)展務(wù)實(shí)合作，形成了以首腦峰會(huì)為核心，以部長(zhǎng)級(jí)會(huì)議為支撐，以研討會(huì)、論壇等形式為輔助的國(guó)家間合作機(jī)制；建立了包括金磚國(guó)家銀行合作機(jī)制、工商理事會(huì)、外匯應(yīng)急儲(chǔ)備基金和金磚國(guó)家新開(kāi)發(fā)銀行、智庫(kù)合作機(jī)制等在內(nèi)的多層次合作保障、支持機(jī)制。

在2017年金磚國(guó)家領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人廈門會(huì)晤期間，習(xí)近平提出了“金磚+磚概念，意在通過(guò)金磚國(guó)家同其他發(fā)展中大國(guó)和發(fā)展中國(guó)家組織進(jìn)行對(duì)話，建立更廣泛的伙伴關(guān)系，擴(kuò)大金磚的“朋友圈”，把金磚合作打造成為當(dāng)今世界最有影響力的南南合作平臺(tái)。截至2018年初，金磚國(guó)家已經(jīng)建立60多項(xiàng)合作機(jī)制，涵蓋經(jīng)貿(mào)、金融、農(nóng)業(yè)、教育、科技、文化、智庫(kù)等多個(gè)領(lǐng)域。

金磚國(guó)家合作打破了世界經(jīng)濟(jì)由發(fā)達(dá)國(guó)家長(zhǎng)久主導(dǎo)的格局，給發(fā)展中國(guó)家的經(jīng)濟(jì)合作和共同發(fā)展開(kāi)辟了可行之路，有力撬動(dòng)了國(guó)際秩序的轉(zhuǎn)型與改革，也為建立新型國(guó)際關(guān)系進(jìn)行了有益探索。