BRICS annual summit to be held in Xiamen from September 3

BEIJING, Aug 27 (APP): China will host the 9th Annual Summit of BRICS in the southeast China’s coastal city of Xiamen, Fujian Province from September 3 to 5 in its capacity as chair of the influential bloc which is comprised of five countries, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
It is expected that China and India as major countries with great influence in the five-member bloc should boost mutual cooperation, and set a vision for the China-India relations despite ongoing frictions.
The BRICS countries are home to 43 percent of the world’s population with a combined GDP of over US$16 trillion, contributing more than half of global growth. It is hoped this year’s summit will produce more practical and concrete cooperation and improve trust and confidence among BRICS nations.
The BRICS countries are seen as an engine of world economic growth. Together, the five countries have been the source of more than half of global growth in the past ten years. As per the words of Chinese President Xi Jinping: “The BRICS countries are the champions of the emerging countries and developing countries.”
BRICS: Stronger partnership for a brighter future” is the theme China has chosen which mirrors the implementation of previous commitments flowing from the past BRICS summits. It is hoped that the Xiamen summit will bring together the leaders of all the five countries.
It is important to note here that on July 28, while meeting with heads of the delegations for the 7th Meeting of BRICS High Representatives for Security Issues, Xi said that BRICS cooperation would usher in its second “golden decade” as long as the five members made joint efforts for closer ties with the spirit of openness, inclusiveness, cooperation and win-win.
However, the 9th BRICS summit is taking place over the backdrop of deteriorating China-India relations following the ongoing standoff between Indian and Chinese soldiers in the Donglang area of the Sikkim sector of the China-India border, making it the longest stalemate between the two militaries in recent years.