By IANS,
Brasilia : Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has said that the BRICS group of countries have an “extremely healthy” global presence.
Rousseff spoke to Xinhua before travelling to China to attend the third BRICS summit grouping leaders from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
BRICS member states are large continental countries with large populations and they are putting in fantastic efforts in making economic and social gains, the Brazilian president said.
She praised BRICS as an “extremely healthy” presence which had become one of the levers of multilateralism in the world.
The BRICS had the vision that a new economic order was important, especially one that did not deny the reality of the emergence of countries that had altered the face and profile of the world both economically and politically, she said.
Rousseff also talked about the close cooperation of the BRICS members in the international arena, citing her own experience in Copenhagen. The UN Climate Change Conference took place in Copenhagen in 2009.
“I participated fairly closely with India and China at that time in the Copenhagen meeting, when we managed to have a joint position. We affirmed the necessity of protecting the environment, to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. But also a fundamental principle is the principle of the Kyoto Protocol: common but differentiated responsibilities,” she said.
Rousseff also stressed another important role of the BRICS was to advocate for peace and development and oppose the use of force.
“I think the BRICS must have a commitment to build peace, a strategy of international relations based on dialogue and based on the construction of mechanisms to support international peace.”
Rousseff said South Africa’s entry into the BRICS was “a recognition of something that has already been a reality”, for BRICS countries had contact with South Africa several times during the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.
“For me, the integration of South Africa formally into the BRICS will be a very important moment,” she said.
Rousseff also highlighted the group’s representativeness.
“I think it is very significant because Brazil represents Latin America; Russia, in a sense, represents a substantial part of Europe; China and India are major countries in Asia; and South Africa represents the African continent,” she said.
On China’s growing economic presence in Brazil and Latin America, Rousseff said China was a strategic partner of Brazil “in all areas.”
“We are a country that believes in multilateralism and the multilateral relationship will not be complete for Brazil without China,” she said.