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8th BRICS Summit 2016
The 8th BRICS summit 2016 was concluded in Goa on Sunday. The theme of this year’s BRICS was Building Responsive, Inclusive and Collective Solutions.
BRICS is the conglomeration of five major emerging economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The first summit was held in Yekaterinburg on 16 June 2009. It was BRIC initially, but after the induction of South Africa in 2010, it became BRICS. The five BRICS countries represent over 3.6 billion people or half of the world population. They have five a combined nominal GDP of US$16.6 trillion, equivalent to approximately 22% of the gross world product.
The recent BRICS summit was held in Goa, India for two days and several pacts have been signed between India and Russia. The member countries were also engaged in dialogues.
Here are the main takeaways of the summit:
1.Fight against terrorism supported by all BRICS members including Pakistan’s ally, China
With the ongoing tension between India and Pakistan, India blamed Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed for the strike and launched a campaign to isolate Islamabad diplomatically.
The declaration condemned terror and adding to this President Xi Jinping said that India and China must work together to eradicate terrorism. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that it is a necessity of time to secure citizens with security and counter-terrorism. Terrorism creates an obstacle to the development and economic prosperity and therefore should be combat soon. India was also able to seek support from China as BRICS pressure on China will cause its support for Pakistan to waver.
2. India-Russia signed deals worth Rs 39,000 crores across multiple sectors
The pact signed by India and Russia includes joint venture to manufacture helicopters, procurement of S-400 air defence system which can target multiple airborne projects simultaneously, construction of 1135 series of frigates (warships) in India. India and Russia have also signed an agreement to combat online security threat.
3. Move faster, as the economies of BRICS countries are not what they used to be
The BRICS grouping countries, even though politically divergent, will move faster on economic cooperation. Free trade pact will be made to facilitate the trade among members. The pact should develop the nations and should enable greater flexibility and freedom in responding to the development priorities.
4. Railways to carry study with Russia for an upgrade of train speed
Indian Railways have joined hands with Russia for carrying out a feasibility study to upgrade the speed of passenger trains. According to a protocol signed between Indian Railways and Russian Railways at Goa, a technical and execution study for the upgrade of the speed of passenger trains in Nagpur- Secunderabad route to up to 200 kmph will be carried out.
5. An agreement to set up a network of integrated irradiation centres for food products in India
Irradiation is a technology that helps safely preserve food for a longer period. India incurs a loss of Rs 2.5 lakh crore in food items like fruits, vegetables, meat, cereals, pulses. The centres will be managed by an India-Russia joint venture (JV) where Hindustan Agro will have the majority 51 per cent stakeholding.
