13th BRICS Summit

In News

• Recently, the BRICS summit was held via virtual mode with the Prime Minister of India as the host.

About

• It was the 13th BRICS Summit.
• The New Delhi Declaration was the first statement by the grouping since the fall of Kabul to the Taliban.
• Leaders stressed the need for an “inclusive intra-Afghan dialogue”.

Key Points

• The summit emphasised the importance of the principle of “non-interference” in international affairs and said disputes and conflicts should be resolved by peaceful means.
• The Leaders adopted the BRICS Counter Terrorism Action Plan.
  • Priority to fighting terrorism, including preventing attempts by terrorist organisations to use Afghan territory as terrorist sanctuary and to carry out attacks against other countries, as well as drug trade within Afghanistan.
  • Need to ensure stability, civil peace, law and order in Afghanistan.
  • For India, this is a warning to anti-India terrorist groups like the Haqqani Network, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad.
  • For Beijing, it’s a message for the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) which has been active in the restive Xinjiang region.
• The document also called for addressing the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan.
• The BRICS leaders also took up the conflicts in Myanmar, Syria, the tension in the Korean peninsula, Israel-Palestine violence and other territorial disputes.
• Highlighting the leading role that BRICS countries can play in the post-COVID global recovery, Prime Minister of India called for enhanced BRICS cooperation under the motto of ‘Build-back Resiliently, Innovatively, Credibly and Sustainably’.
• Achievements: 
  • The first BRICS Digital Health Summit; 
  • the first BRICS Ministerial Joint Statement on multilateral reforms; 
  • a BRICS Counter-Terrorism Action Plan; 
  • an Agreement on cooperation in field of remote-sensing satellites; 
  • a virtual BRICS vaccine Research & Development Centre; 
  • BRICS Alliance on Green Tourism, etc.

(Image Courtesy: ET )

Way Ahead

• There is a need to contribute to fostering an inclusive intra-Afghan dialogue so as to ensure stability, civil peace, law and order in Afghanistan.
• It is for good reason that BRICS countries must pay special attention to the Afghan crisis.
• There are four Cs for the fundamental principles of BRICS partnership:
  • strengthen public health cooperation in the spirit of solidarity; 
  • strengthen international cooperation on vaccines in the spirit of equitable access for all; 
  • economic cooperation in the spirit of mutual benefit; 
  • political and security cooperation in the spirit of fairness and justice; and 
• There is an urgent need to strengthen people-to-people exchanges in the spirit of mutual learning.

Source: TH