Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday said the BRICS countries have made significant contributions to the global economic recovery and growth.
Xi made the remarks in a keynote speech at the opening session of the BRICS Business Forum in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Opportunities and challenges ahead
“For emerging economies and developing countries, this is a world of both opportunities and challenges,” Xi stressed.
The new global growth drivers, such as AI, big data, quantum information and biotechnology, are gaining momentum, Xi noted, saying that countries should seize all opportunities to achieve "leapfrog development."
China-Africa cooperation is a good model for the future
China-Africa cooperation is a good model for South-South cooperation, Xi said.
The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation will be held this coming September in Beijing. The president said the Beijing summit, which has the theme of “China and Africa toward an even stronger community with a shared future through win-win cooperation,” will help enable both sides to achieve high quality and high standards of cooperation for mutual benefit and common development.
New advances will be made
Xi hailed the role of the BRICS countries in global cooperation and said new advances will be made in 2018.
"We BRICS countries will forge a partnership on the new industrial revolution, which involves more coordination of macro-economic policies, closer cooperation on innovation and industrialization and joint efforts to accelerate economic upgrading and the replacement of growth drivers," the president said.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa also delivered a keynote speech at the opening session, in which he stressed the important role of BRICS in global cooperation.
“BRICS” refers to five major emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The 10th BRICS Summit, with the theme of “BRICS in Africa: Collaboration for Inclusive Growth and Shared Prosperity in the 4th Industrial Revolution,” is being held in Johannesburg from July 25-27 under South Africa's chairmanship.
