Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday urged BRICS member countries to jointly defend multilateralism and the multilateral trading system.
During the virtual summit Convened by Brazil, the Chinese president emphasized his country's willingness to collaborate with other members of the bloc to implement the Global Development Initiative and promote high-quality cooperation.
"We must leverage our respective strengths, deepen practical collaboration, and make our business, financial, scientific, and technological cooperation more productive, in order to strengthen the foundation, momentum, and impact of the Great BRICS Corporation and bring greater benefits to our people," he said, as quoted by media.
He also called on the group's member states, "at the forefront of the global south," to act in a "spirit of openness, inclusion, and cooperation, and to jointly defend multilateralism and the multilateral trading system."
"We must defend multilateralism to defend international equity and justice (…) History teaches us that multilateralism is a shared aspiration of peoples and a dominant trend that provides an important foundation for global peace and development," he emphasized.
He proposed promoting a global governance initiative for a "fairer and more equitable" system, based on the principle of broad consultation, joint contributions, and shared benefits.
Xi also denounced that hegemonism, unilateralism and protectionism "are becoming more frequent," as well as trade and tariff wars, seriously disrupting "the global economy and undermining the rules of international trade."
On the other hand, the president called for actively promoting greater democracy in international relations and increasing the representation and voice of countries in the Global South.
"Regardless of how the international landscape evolves, we must remain committed to building an open global economy that shares opportunities and achieves win-win outcomes," he said.
He also indicated that defending multilateralism and the new world order must be done together with the United Nations and the World Trade Organization (WTO), based on international law. He added the need to defend solidarity and cooperation to foster "synergy" for common development.
