Second BRICS Dialogue to Discuss Governance and Multilateralism

The Second BRICS Dialogue with leading academics, policymakers and researchers will take place on 27 July from 10:00 to 11:30 (UST-3) at the Alberto Luiz Coimbra Institute for Graduate Studies and Research in Engineering of Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, through the MS Teams platform.

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The event is organised by the Durban University of Technology in collaboration with the Alberto Luiz Coimbra Institute for Graduate Studies and Research in Engineering of Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, and with the assistance of the South African BRICS Think Tank and National Institute for the Humanities and Social Science (NIHSS). TV BRICS is the information partner. Participants can register at the following link.

The theme of the upcoming event is "Growth and Sustainability of Livelihoods in BRICS Countries: Knowledge Sharing in Social Justice, Governance and Multilateralism".

The BRICS countries have a combined area of 39,746,220 km² or about 26.7% of the world’s land surface and 41.5% of the global population. In terms of GDP, combined, the BRICS arrangement has a GDP of over 26.03 trillion U.S. dollars in 2022. According to demographic projections, the combined populations of the BRICS nations will increase by 625 million between 2000 and 2026.

Notably, the bulk of this growth will occur in India and China. The surging economies of these two nations have been instrumental in elevating the standards of living and disposable incomes of their citizens. Consequently, both countries have emerged as highly lucrative markets, featuring amongst the world's most profitable. China's manufacturing sector has shifted towards the production of technologically advanced and high-end goods to cater to its burgeoning domestic demand.

Many other indicators are showing that emerging countries are increasingly assuming their importance on the world scenario and that these countries are increasingly aware of the need to use the value created by them to benefit their own populations, as developed countries have been doing along history.

The dialogue participants will discuss how to retain and use the wealth created by emerging countries to benefit their own population, which is the great majority of the world's population.

The BRICS nations collectively possess a significant proportion of the world's natural resources, including land, forests, minerals, and energy resources. Each BRICS country has its own unique endowments.

For example, Brazil is known for its vast reserves of iron ore, timber, and arable land, while Russia has abundant reserves of oil, gas, and precious metals. India is rich in coal, minerals, and arable land, while China possesses large reserves of coal, rare earth elements, and other minerals. South Africa is known for its abundant reserves of platinum, gold, and other minerals. If we add natural resources from other emerging countries, we will have almost all known natural resources on planet Earth

How can these resources be used to improve the lives of the population in the countries of the Global South? How African and South American countries should address the challenges to promote policies and programmes that address poverty and inequality, improve governance and accountability, protect the environment, invest in infrastructure, promote peace and stability, and diversify economies to reduce dependence on extractive industries and agricultural commodities? How can the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) help in this matter? Strengthening South-South cooperation, based on multilateralism, would it not be a better way to promote development, regardless of the tutelage of dominant actors in the current world economy? All these topical issues will be addressed by academics, policymakers and researchers from BRICS countries during the dialogue.