DURBAN, (ST) – Leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS Grouping) kicked off their summit on Wednesday in the South African capital Durban.
Opening the summit, President Jacob Zuma of South Africa said that BRICS group enjoys a huge international presence and “we are looking forward toward attaining further cooperation to achieve more progress and development in our countries.”
The Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed “we must adhere to international justice and peace in the light of the world challenges. We hope that everlasting peace and happiness will be attained to all people, so we need to enhance cooperation, and peace not violence and wars.”
The aim of the summit is to achieve integration, partnership and cooperation among BRICS countries on the one hand and between the BRICS Group and other countries of the world.
Russian President Vladimir Putin affirmed that working with BRICS countries is one of the Russian policy’s priorities and that the group has to use its potentials to enhance its international position in the world.
He stressed the need to have more interaction with the United Nations and to hold a joint meeting to discuss ways of combatting terrorism in the world.
He expressed Russia support for joint BRICS projects, stressing that expanding dialogue in different domains will strongly push the group forward.
For his part, Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh said that BRICS states have been keen to tackle the challenges facing their cooperation, pointing out that the agreement on establishing BRICS development Bank has left the door widely opened for new prospects of cooperation.
“We have to work together to make political and economic reforms in the international institutions, particularly the UN Security Council, to help them be more qualified to reflect facts,” Singh added.
President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil said that BRICS countries constitute a big part of the world’s population.
“We are strong enough to achieve distinguished presence in the international arena,” she stressed.
H. Mustafa