2015 was a pivotal year with countries signing the United National General Assembly’s Post-2015 Development Agenda and the holding of the Conference of Parties 21 (COP21) in Paris. In 2016, the norms and frameworks around international trade were significantly altered as the World Trade Organisation continued to be weakened and new trading regimes flourished. This two-year period also witnessed dramatic shifts in international security with countries across geographies facing the impact of increasing radicalisation and extremism. Given this reality, the BRICS Think Tank Council (BTTC) members agreed that the BRICS nations should play an even more critical role than before in ensuring economic prosperity of the developing and emerging community at large, and in establishing peace and stability of the international order.
This project is a continuation of the proposal made by the BTTC Members in 2015 titled “Towards a Long-Term Strategy for BRICS”. Under the Russian Presidency in 2015, BTTC members decided to build on the theoretical perspectives brought out in the proposal and put forth practical and implementable models for BRICS cooperation. This project, like its predecessor, focuses on five pillars:
(i) promoting cooperation for economic growth and development.
(ii) politicalc and economic governance.
(iii) social justice, sustainable development and quality of life.
(iv) peace and security; and
(v) progress through sharing knowledge and
innovation
he BTTC members decided that each of the five think tanks – one from each member nation – that would undertake the project, would author a chapter on one of the five pillars. These chapters were then shared with all five members for their inputs and suggestions, making them a collaborative and peer-reviewed process.
Topic 1 was taken up by the China Centre for Contemporary World Studies.
Topic 2 by the Observer Research Foundation, India.
Topic 3 by the South Africa BRICS Think Tank.
Topic 4 by the Russian National Committee on BRICS Research; and
Topic 5 by the Institute for Applied Economic Research, Brazil.
