BRICS: Brazil defends peaceful solution for Ukraine war

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – On May 19, Brazil defended in a virtual meeting of the BRICS foreign ministers the peaceful and negotiated solution to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and asked for urgency in finding a solution to the humanitarian crisis in the country.

Moreover, the country’s diplomatic representation emphasized the need to respect international law and the principles of the United Nations Charter. The meeting resulted in the joint declaration, “Strengthening BRICS solidarity and cooperation, responding to new realities and challenges in the international situation”.

In the first part of the meeting, which was restricted to the foreign ministers of the group’s countries, composed of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, the ministers expressed their national positions about the situation in Ukraine, already defended in forums such as the General Assembly and the United Nations Security Council.

The foreign ministers also expressed concern about economic recovery and international stability. They highlighted the adverse effects of the interruption of production chains and serious threats to food and energy security and sustainable development goals.

“Brazil emphasized the importance it attaches to cooperation among the countries of the grouping in areas such as economics and finance, which resulted in the creation of the New Development Bank, as well as in other promising areas, such as trade, health, and vaccines, combating terrorism and transnational crimes, and science, technology, and innovation,” Itamaraty said in a statement about the meeting.

GUESTS

In the complementary part, invited by China, which currently holds the group’s presidency, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Kazakhstan, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Nigeria, Senegal, and Thailand also participated. The intention was to broaden the dialogue with other countries and demonstrate the group’s vocation to strengthen the role of emerging economies in global governance.

The joint declaration informs that the BRICS will continue to improve the cooperation framework between the member countries under the three pillars: political and security; economy and finances; interpersonal and cultural exchanges.

The initiative aims to accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and further broaden and deepen cooperation among BRICS countries.

“The ministers agreed that the BRICS countries should increase their solidarity, cooperation, and work together to address new challenges and emerging features,” said the statement released after the meeting.

By upholding international law, the document reinforces the group’s commitment to multilateralism, including the purposes and principles enshrined in the UN Charter, and to the central role of the United Nations in an international system in which sovereign states cooperate to maintain peace and security, promote sustainable development, ensure the promotion and protection of democracy, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, and promote cooperation based on the spirit of mutual respect, justice, and equality.

China and Russia emphasized the importance they attach to the role of Brazil, India, and South Africa in international relations and supported their aspirations to play more relevant roles in the UN.

PANDEMIC

In the fight against the pandemic, they supported the role of the World Health Organization (WHO). They argued that it was “imperative to ensure the availability of safe, effective, accessible, and affordable diagnostics, medicines, vaccines, and essential medical products for people in different countries, especially developing countries, as well as equitable vaccine distribution and rapid vaccination, to fill the immunization gap globally”.

The ministers also recognized the importance of the ongoing discussions at the WTO on relevant Intellectual Property (IP) Rights exemption proposals and building capacity and strengthening local production of vaccines and other health equipment, especially in developing countries.

“They stressed the need to continue to strengthen cooperation in the development, testing methods, therapeutics, research, production and recognition of vaccines, research on their efficacy and safety in light of new variants of the covid-19 virus, and recognition of the national covid-19 vaccination document and related testing, especially for international travel, as well as knowledge sharing on traditional medicine among BRICS countries,” the document indicated.

RESEARCH

The foreign ministers also supported the launch of the Bics Vaccine Research and Development Center, the establishment of the BRICS Integrated Early Warning System to prevent risks of mass infectious diseases, and the adoption of the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the Field of Regulation of Medical Products for Human Use.

ECONOMY

The communiqué also advocates that it is crucial for countries to ensure sustainable development as a form of global economic governance and recalls the group’s support for broadening and strengthening the participation of emerging markets and developing countries (EMDCs) in international economic decision making and standard setting processes.

The BRICS reinforced support for the G20’s leading role in global economic governance and stressed that this group must remain unchanged and respond to current global challenges.

“They called on the international community to promote partnerships, stressing that it is imperative to strengthen macro-policy coordination to pull the world economy out of the crisis and shape a strong, sustainable, balanced, and inclusive post-pandemic economic recovery. They urged major developed countries to adopt responsible economic policies while managing the repercussions of these policies, to avoid severe impacts on developing countries,” the document’s text indicated.

With information from Agência Brasil