Krishna Adhikari
Goa (India), Oct 17: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has said BRICS members offer inspiring models of developmental transformation. Freeing millions of people out of the vicious cycle of poverty in the past two decades was undoubtedly an extraordinary accomplishment for BRICS, he added.
Addressing the BRICS-BIMSTEC Outreach Summit, in Goa here on 16 October, PM Dahal said while BRICS represents more than a third of world’s population and over a quarter of global GDP, BIMSTEC stands for the collective aspirations of over 1.5 billion people for development and a better future.
“While BRICS has been a center of gravity for growth and economic transformation, BIMSTEC possesses tremendous potentials to emerge as increasingly vibrant region,” he said, adding, it provides an impetus for collaborative partnership between BRICS and BIMSTEC. India, as a common member in both, can play a bridging role, he stressed.
According to him, from human development to manifold upturn of people’s per capita income; from critical infrastructure to upswing of trade and FDI, BRICS continue to achieve what was once beyond imagination. BRICS’ sustained growth helped stabilize world economy even during the worst economic and financial crisis.
“We see BRICS’ rise is an opportunity. The biggest advantage of learning from the good practices of BRICS members is that their developmental tools and measures are tested in the unique developing country context,” the PM mentioned during the address.
Moreover, the PM said the BIMSTEC and BRICS have close geographic linkage and share many cultural and civilizational ethos. BIMSTEC’s priorities largely converge with those of BRICS.
He was of the view that in larger forums, the BIMSTEC and BRICS could better coordinate common views in global norm setting including through the reform in the global governance architecture reflective of current realities.
According to the PM, BRICS countries today are not only the prime locus of inbound global FDI but also the ever-enlarging source of outbound investment. As fellow developing countries and the countries in immediate neighbourhood of two important BRICS members, BIMSTEC members have a natural expectation that they receive greater share of FDI from BRICS countries. This will further deepen partnership, he hoped.
He suggested that cooperation in education and human development could be beneficial to both groups. Demographic dividend is an asset for both.
PM Dahal argued that the BIMSTEC countries are at different stages of technological capacity and innovation index. BRICS countries possess state of the art technologies and some of them have emerged as technology leaders. This points to the possibility of promoting cooperation and sharing the benefits of technology.
However, he expressed worry that these countries were still the biggest concentration of world poverty in term of absolute number of poor. “We can share with each other anti-poverty schemes that have effectively worked,” he suggested.
The BIMSTEC member states could learn from the BRICS members which have made tremendous progress in transforming the traditional agricultural pattern into a modern technology-based economic sector, the PM pointed out the need.
Cooperation in the field of energy, greater use of renewable energy, the art infrastructure, connectivity in all forms (roads, railways, waterways, airways and transmission ways) were the points he underscored during the address.
PM Dahal congratulated the BRICS for the establishment and successful operationalization of the New Development Bank. The Bank can serve as an important source of funding infrastructure projects and programmes for sustainable development prioritized by BIMSTEC.
“We have common stake in successful realization of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Least developed countries should receive special support measures so that they are not left behind in this process,” he underscored.
Collectively fight against the threat of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, human and drug trafficking and other trans-national crimes were needs of the hour.
He concluded that broadened and deepened partnership between BRICS and BIMSTEC would not only be supportive to the economic progress but also contribute to building peaceful and prosperous societies. RSS
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