The eighth BRICS summit was held in Goa from 15 to 16 October 2016. The summit concluded with adaptation of Goa Declaration.
The two day summit was attended by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Brazilian President Michel Temer and South African President Jacob Zuma. The theme for the summit was “Building Responsive, Inclusive and Collective Solutions”.
Key Highlights of Goa Declaration
- BRICS nations condemns terrorism in all its forms and stressed that there can be no justification for such acts.
- International terrorism, especially the Islamic State (IS) is an unprecedented threat to international peace and security.
- BRICS nations reaffirmed the commitment to increase effectiveness of the UN counter terrorism framework.
- Need for adaptation of Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) in the UN General Assembly.
- Urgent need to reforms of the United Nations, including UN Security Council, to increase representation of developing countries.
- Resolution of civil war in Syria, in accordance with the “legitimate aspirations of the people of Syria” and action against U.N.-designated terrorist groups like IS and Jabhat al-Nusra.
- All nations must counter radicalism and block sources of financing international terrorism, dismantling terrorist bases and countering misuse of the Internet including social media.
- Appreciated progress in implementation of Strategy for BRICS Economic Partnership and emphasise importance of BRICS Roadmap for Trade, Economic and Investment Cooperation until 2020.
- Welcomed adoption of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals.
- Reiterated determination to use all policy tools to achieve the goal of sustainable and inclusive growth.
- The ninth BRICS Summit will be hosted by China in 2017.
Besides, first-ever BRICS-BIMSTEC Outreach Summit was also held on side-lines of 2016 BRICS Summit. Leaders from both forums planned to jointly explore possibilities of expanding ties between them on issues such as terrorism, economy, trade and connectivity.
BIMSTEC stands for Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation. BIMSTEC member countries are Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal.
About BRICS
- BRICS is the acronym for an association of five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
- It was established in2009. Originally it was known as BRIC before the inclusion of South Africa in 2011. The first formal summit was held in Yekaterinburg, Russia.
- The BRICS members are all developing or newly industrialised countries and all five are G-20 members.
- They are distinguished by their large, fast-growing economies and significant influence on regional and global affairs.