BRICS Foreign Ministers meet via video conferencing
By IAR Desk
The Ministers of Foreign Affairs /International Relations of the BRICS group of countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa met via video conferencing on Tuesday, 28 April. The conference was convened by the current BRICS Chair, Russia on 28 April 2020.
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russian Federation, Mr. Sergey Lavrov, chaired the meeting. EAM Dr. S. Jaishankar represented India. Amb. Ernesto Araújo, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brazil, Mr. Wang Yi, State Councilor and Foreign Minister of China, and Ms. Grace Naledi Pandor, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of the Republic of South Africa, represented the respective BRICS countries.
Convened in the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, discussions during the video conference centred around COVID-19 crisis, its impact and BRICS response. The BRICS Foreign Ministers also discussed the activities to be undertaken under Russian BRICS Chairmanship in 2020.
India’s Minister of External Affairs Dr. Jaishankar in his remarks noted that BRICS, which brings together almost 42 percent of global population, with impressive growth, investment and trade share, had an important role to play in shaping the global economic and political architecture. He highlighted the initiatives and various decisive steps taken early by India in the wake of the pandemic including through Aarogya Setu Citizen App and Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
The minister also highlighted that much before the outbreak was declared a public health emergency of international concern by WHO, India had instituted measures to check Corona Virus. He apprised the BRICS Foreign Ministers about the initiative to coordinate efforts to contain COVID-19 in South Asia, and the creation of COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund by the SAARC countries.
India is providing pharma assistance to nearly 85 nations, including many countries in Africa, on a grant basis, to support their response to the pandemic. This has been widely welcomed.
The minister further emphasized that the pandemic was not only posing a great risk to the health and well being of humanity but was also severely impacting global economy and output by disruption of global trade and supply chains. Economic activity across sectors has been negatively impacted leading to loss of jobs and livelihoods. He emphasized the need to provide support to businesses, especially MSMEs, to tide over the crisis and ensure livelihoods are not lost. He also urged the BRICS to recognise the efficacy of traditional medicine systems to strengthen immunity.
Dr. Jaishankar further emphasized that the current challenge underlined all the more the need for reform of multilateral systems and that reformed multilateralism was the way forward. He referred to the centrality of development and growth in the global agenda.
India also reaffirmed its strong support for Russian BRICS Chairship in 2020.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov laid particular emphasis on the fact that unilateral sanctions impede the fight againsgt the novel Coronavirus. Russia currently is under sanctions from the US. In a statement to the press Lavrov said “Such restrictive measures , violate international law, interfere with the fight against the coronavirus pandemic and cause significant damage to the socio-economic development of the respective states.”
He said that the participants agreed to consider the impact of the crisis on the system of international relations, when the global political and economic systems, international institutions and the national states themselves are tested for strenght, reported Xinhua.
He urged the BRICS grouping to work together to develop a joint vaccine, including one against the coronavirus.
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said expressed gratitude to the BRICS and other countries that stood by China and lent it a helping hand during China’s fight with the pandemic. He also outlined China’s contribution to contries affected wiht the Covid-19, and expressed readiness to work togther with the BRICS countries to conduc joint research to develop vaccines and drugs to combat such pandemics.
A virtual meeting of BRICS Health Officials is envisaged on COVID-19 pandemic on 7th May, 2020 to take the discussion forward in a focussed and purposeful manner.
the overall theme of “BRICS Partnership for Global Stability, Shared Security and Innovative Growth”.
