BRICS Summit 2017 – All You Need To Know

BRICS Summit 2017 – All You Need To Know

Important Facts about BRICS

• The BRIC was established in the year of 2006.
• The BRIC was comprised of four member countries i.e. Brazil, Russia, India and China. The first Summit of BRIC was held in the year 2009.
• South Africa joined in the group in 2011 and the group was renamed as BRICS.
• The first Summit of BRIC was held in Yekaterinburg of Russia.

Introduction:
BRICS stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. These five countries are the member of the club of developing nations named BRICS. The BRICS summit of 2017 was held in Xiamen of China from 3rd September to 5th September. The summit was hosted by China for the second time. The representatives from all other member countries participated in the summit. The 9th BRICS summit has immense significance regarding the International Relation between two major members of BRICS i.e. India and China.

Theme of the 9th BRICS Summit:
The theme of the 9th BRICS summit was “Stronger Partnership for a Brighter Future”.

Representatives of BRICS Summit 2017:

• China- Xi Jinping (President)(Chairman of the 9th BRICS Summit) 
• Brazil- Michel Temer (President)
• India- Narendra Modi (Prime Minister)
• Russia- Vladimir Putin (President)
• South Africa- Jacob Zuma (President)

Highlights of the BRICS Summit 2017-

• Identification of Pakistan-Based Terror Groups - Major Pakistan based Terror group like JeM, LeT, which are causing violence in that area, are identified and named for the first time.
• Post Dokalam Xi-Modi Meet- Chinese President Xi Jingping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held their first bilateral meeting after the 73 days long stand-off of Dokalam. The communication is expected to be positive and progressive. 
• Agreements Signed to Strengthen Commercial Ties among the members of BRICS-Four agreements, which include economic, trade co-operation and bilateral issues, were signed by the BRICS members to boost the commercial ties among the members of BRICS.
• Putin-Modi Meet- President of Russia Putin and Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi also held the Bilateral Meeting. This meeting was also significant as Russia is moving away from India and gets closer to China.
• Agreements Signed by the Five Banks of the BRICS Nations on Credit Lines- Five banks have agreed to build the credit lines under BRICS Bank Cooperation Mechanism in their national currencies & cooperate on the credit ratings. These five banks are Brazilian Development Bank, Export-Import Bank of India, Vnesheconombank, Development Bank of South Africa and China Development Bank.  
• Funding Plan Announced By China for BRICS- China would give $76.4 million for the economic and technology cooperation plan of BRICS and another $4 million for the projects at the New Development Bank of BRICS countries.

Challenges for India-

• China is planning to form “BRICS Plus” or the BRICS Friends Group and to include the Pakistan, Mexico and Sri Lanka in this extended version of BRICS.
• Russia is moving away from India on various issues like Ukraine crisis, Afghanistan issues etc.

Conclusion-
The BRICS group has evolved as the emerging one than other groups like SAARC and Non Aligned Movement. It is expected that member countries must use BRICS to form an Institution instead of a wall.