In an exclusive interview with The Hindu, which coincided with the first anniversary of the formation of the NDB, Liu Zongyi of the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies proposed that the BRICS, which established the Shanghai-based lender, should focus on the September summit of the G-20 countries in Hangzhou. In that forum of the emerging and developed economies, the BRICS must jointly reinforce their call to further democratise the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

“The G-20 summit will be followed by the BRICS summit in Goa in October. The call for the reform of the international financial architecture and preservation of some of the basic rules of global trade can be reinforced in Goa,” he observed.

‘BRICS must speak in one voice at G-20’

Dr. Liu pointed out that the BRICS countries at the G-20 summit should also speak with one voice in defence of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

“The United States would like to establish mega-regional agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), among a large number of countries in the Asia-Pacific and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) with the European Union. That will naturally dilute the significance of the WTO, which is not in our interest.”

....

‘As an influential global core’

The Chinese scholar stressed that the BRICS countries should now view themselves as an influential “global core”, as the grouping interconnects countries in Asia, Eurasia, Africa and Latin America.

But in order to realise its aspiration, the BRICS would do well to establish a sophisticated network of institutions that will bring the global South to the forefront of the international agenda.

....