BRICS rises as major driving force of global economy

Against a backdrop of a sluggish global economic recovery, BRICS is regarded as a rising power, capable of injecting fresh impetus into economic globalization.

The night scenery of Xiamen, southeast China's Fujian Province. The 9th BRICS Summit is held in Xiamen on Sept. 3-5. [Photo: Xinhua]

In the past ten years the combined economy of the BRICS countries has grown by 179 percent. The total volume of mutual imports and exports has increased by 94 percent.

The World Bank is expecting the overall economic growth to pick up to 5.3 percent in 2017.

Attending the Xiamen BRICS summit, China's Deputy Finance Minister Shi Yaobin says BRICS countries still exhibit a very positive developmental prospect.

"At present, the BRICS countries that have kept steady economic growth in the past few years such as China and India have consolidated the growth momentum. The countries that had experienced economic setbacks like Brazil are back on track. Considering the current BRICS economic volume, market demand, labour market and coordination of member nations, BRICS will continue to see economic expansion in the future."

Huang Meibo, a professor of economics at Xiamen University says BRICS economies have joined hands not only to make themselves stronger, but also to contribute more to development around the world.

"In recent years developing countries, especially BRICS countries have contributed a lot to world economy. BRICS countries cover 23 percent of the world GDP in 2016; the figure can be raised to 50 percent within the scope of developing countries only. Previously the world economy was led by the developed countries and developing countries were sidelined. But after the global financial crisis the leading role of developed countries has been much weakened. Conversely, BRICS countries have risen quickly."

Sharing a common ground for development is the main reason that brings BRICS countries together. Professor Huang says they each have their own unique advantages in economic development.

"When it was first put forward by Jim O'Neil, the concept of BRICS was based on two features. One is population and the other is resources, which means BRICS countries own large labour forces as well as consistent development capability. Meanwhile they have vast markets for investment. These are all economic strengths of BRICS countries. And as developing countries, they can access existing advanced technologies and development experiences to speed up economic growth."

Now gathered in the Chinese coastal city of Xiamen, BRICS countries appear prepared to seek a further expansion in their cooperation.

It's anticipated that this year's Xiamen summit will summarize what BRICS has achieved in the past decade and more importantly provide a blueprint for what BRICS intends to do in the future.

Experts also say, in the presence of the leaders, on the margins of the meeting, documents covering a lot of ground including, and mostly in the area of economic cooperation, will be signed.

The summit is expected to bring the five member nations more closely together to cooperate and become more open to share experiences and to learn from each other, in order to play a bigger role in global economic governance.