8th Brics Summit Goa declaration

The 8th BRICS summit was held from 15-16 October,2016 in Goa. BRICS is an acronym for the association of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The summit concluded with adaptation of Goa Declaration.

The theme for the summit was “Building Responsive, Inclusive and Collective Solutions”.

During India’s BRICS Chairmanship, we will adopt five-pronged approach:

• Institution building to further deepen, sustain and institutionalise BRICS cooperation;
• Implementation of the decisions from previous Summits;
• Integrating the existing cooperation mechanisms;
• Innovation, i.e., new cooperation mechanisms; and
• Continuity, i.e., continuation of mutually agreed existing BRICS cooperation mechanisms.

In short, the Indian approach towards its BRICS Chairmanship could be captured by ‘IIIIC or I4C’.

About BRICS
BRICS is an acronym for the association of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.The crux of the BRICS formation is due to dollar, which is no longer seems to be sacrosanct and that change in valuation of the dollar necessarily ‘results in sharp spikes in energy and commodity bills for all.

This expectation by the Centre for the Study of Governance Innovation (CSGI, University of Pretoria) appears to be a major dynamic of BRICS’ self-estimation and inducement into error of believing that it has to be.

Eight BRICS Summits have taken place so far. The 8th BRICS Summit was hosted by India during its Chairmanship in 2016. The earlier Summits were held as under:

• 7th BRICS Summit – 8-9 July 2015 in Russia (Ufa)
• 6th BRICS Summit – 14–16 July 2014 in Brazil (Fortaleza)
• 5th BRICS Summit – 26–27 March 2013 in South Africa (Durban)
• 4th BRICS Summit – 29 March 2012 in India (New Delhi)
• 3rd BRICS Summit – 14 April 2011 in China (Sanya)
• 2nd BRIC Summit – 16 April 2010 in Brazil (Brasilia)
• 1st BRIC Summit – 16 June 2009 in Russia (Yekaterinburg)

Starting essentially with economic issues of mutual interest, the agenda of BRICS meetings has considerably widened over the years to encompass topical global issues.

BRICS cooperation has two pillars – consultation on issues of mutual interest through meetings of Leaders as well as of Ministers of Finance, Trade, Health, S&T, Education, Agriculture, Communication, Labour, etc. and practical cooperation in a number of areas through meetings of Working Groups/Senior Officials. Regular annual Summits as well as meetings of Leaders on the margins of G20 Summits are held. The ninth BRICS Summit will be hosted by China in 2017.

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Other highlights

• Resolution of civil war in Syria, in accordance with the “legitimate aspirations of the people of Syria” and action against U.N.-designated terrorist groups like IS and Jabhat al-Nusra.
• Appreciated progress in implementation of Strategy for BRICS Economic Partnership and emphasise importance of BRICS Roadmap for Trade, Economic and Investment Cooperation until 2020.
• Welcomed adoption of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals.
• BRICS also welcomed the Paris Climate Agreement and its imminent entry into force on 4 November.
• Reiterated determination to use all policy tools to achieve the goal of sustainable and inclusive growth.

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Key Highlights of Goa Declaration

• BRICS nations condemns terrorism in all its forms and stressed that there can be no justification for such acts. International terrorism, especially the Islamic State (IS) is an unprecedented threat to international peace and security.
• BRICS nations reaffirmed the commitment to increase effectiveness of the UN counter terrorism framework.
• Need for adaptation of Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) in the UN General Assembly.
• Urgent need to reforms of the United Nations, including UN Security Council, to increase representation of developing countries.
• Resolution of civil war in Syria, in accordance with the “legitimate aspirations of the people of Syria” and action against U.N.-designated terrorist groups like IS and Jabhat al-Nusra.
• All nations must counter radicalism and block sources of financing international terrorism, dismantling terrorist bases and countering misuse of the Internet including social media.
• Appreciated progress in implementation of Strategy for BRICS Economic Partnership and emphasize importance of BRICS Roadmap for Trade, Economic and Investment Cooperation until 2020.
• Welcomed adoption of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals. Reiterated determination to use all policy tools to achieve the goal of sustainable and inclusive growth.
• BRICS called for tackling terrorism, early adoption of CCIT
• Goa Declaration condemned terrorism in all its forms and stressed that there can be no justification for such acts.
• It called upon all nations to adopt a comprehensive approach in combating terrorism, violent extremism, radicalisation, and recruitment, movement of terrorists including foreign terrorists and blocking sources of financing terrorism.
• BRICS called upon all nations to work together to expedite the adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) in the UN General Assembly without any further delay.

Reaffirmed commitment to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)

• The BRICS said sources of terror funding like organised crime by means of money-laundering, drug trafficking, criminal activities, dismantling terrorist bases, and countering misuse of the internet including through social media by terror entities should be focus areas.
• BRICS said it reaffirmed commitment to the FATF international standards on combating money laundering and the Financing of Terrorism and Proliferation.
• The FATF is an intergovernmental organization founded in 1989 on the initiative of the G7 to develop policies to combat money laundering. In 2001 the purpose expanded to act on terrorism financing.
• It also called for swift, effective and universal implementation of FATF on combating terrorist financing, including effective implementation of its operational plan.

UN Reforms

• India is among the many countries that are worried about the weakening of international institutions and the tendency to impose unilateral preferences over others.
• For instance, American military action (2003) to remove President Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq à an action the United States launched unilaterally in violation of the UN Charter.
• To guard against this kind of unhelpful trends, the wings of the United Nations must be suitably strengthened.
• With only China as a permanent member presently, Asia is grossly underrepresented, whereas Africa and Latin America do not have any representation in the inner circle of this important organ.
• BRICS called for urgent need to reforms of the United Nations, including UN Security Council, to increase representation of developing countries.