Since its establishment in 2009, and subsequent to the joining of South Africa in 2010, the five BRICS member states have agreed to focus their cooperation on the three basic pillars which are (i) Political and Security, (ii) Economic and Finance, and (iii) Cultural and People-to-People exchange. For the 15th BRICS Summit in South Africa, the theme is, “BRICS and Africa: Partnership for Mutual Accelerated Growth, Sustainable Development and Inclusive Multilateralism.” With 19 potential BRICS m...

Over the years, the BRICS has continued to be the growth engine of the world. The bloc has much-untapped potential to influence the global economy and bring in a new era of regional cooperation, reinforce multilateralism, and align global governance where issues of the Global South are prioritised. Table 1 provides an overview of BRICS in key economic indicators vis-à-vis G7 countries and Emerging Markets and Developing Economies. Read more

Despite the profound and far-reaching impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, throughout the world, the momentum of economic globalisation cannot be changed. Confronted by multiple global problems, including sluggish economic recovery, severe inflation, food insecurity, and energy crisis, the international community needs to further strengthen international economic cooperation and maintain the global value chain. This is to promote economic globalisation in a more open, inclusive, balanced, and win-w...

The BRICS have chosen the route towards internationalisation, economic integration and modernisation and support economic entities, intended for strategic interests of the partner countries. In its essence public-private partnership (PPP) is a platform where public and private investors come together to find mutually beneficial resolution of financial and economic problems. It is important to note that PPP does not mean any transfer of assets from public to private institutions, but represents ...

This study selected the representative academic databases from the five BRICS countries as data sources, utilising bibliometric methods to review the scholarly work of BRICS nations on global governance and multilateralism. Specifically, Brazil used the official database CAPES of its Ministry of Education for literature collection. CAPES indexes many academic journal articles published domestically and abroad in Brazil, covering disciplines in science, technology, medicine, humanities and socia...

The war in Ukraine and the multiple challenges ranging from the Covid-19 pandemic to the real and present danger of climate change and the burgeoning debt crisis have once again underscored the urgent need for real reform of the multilateral system. India has been saying so at the UN for thirty years, we have been saying it at G20 over the last decade and we have been talking about it at these BRICS forums each year. Five years ago, at the BRICS leaders retreat in Johannesburg, Prime Minister N...

In 2023, Artificial Intelligence (AI) entered the public discourse becoming a household term. The conversation has ranged from AI making human labour redundant to an AI-based super intelligenceemerging in the near future, triggering an extinction level event across society (Vallance, 2023). The AIheadlines have been especially shocking, with an Open Letter signed by notable Western AI experts calling for a six-month pause on AI development, given its potential exponential increase in capabiliti...

BRICS countries collectively comprise 40 percent of the world’s population (Statista, 2014). However, what truly defines this shared commonality among the nations is the diversity of population, culture and languages within the borders. India has 28 States and 8 Union Territories and according to the latest Census (2011), more than 19,500 mother tongues are spoken in India (Indian Express, 2018). Similarly, Africa is home to about one-third of the world’s languages with about 1,000 to 2,000 lan...

Currently, politicians and experts are increasingly talking about moving towards a polycentric world order. The unipolar world with the hegemony of the United States is becoming a thing of the past. It is unlikely that there will be a new bipolarity in the form of Chimerica. However, it is not yet clear which powers will become key in the new polycentric world. So far, the comparison of twelve countries, namely the G7 and BRICS participants, has become the most popular. Read more

China has the world’s largest vocational education system with 11,200 vocational schools and 29.15 million students, offering more than 1,300 majors which cover almost all areas of the national economy (Workers’ Daily, 19 August 2022). A system of Secondary Vocational High School + Vocational College + Vocational and Technical University was established. The Chinese government stresses the importance of craftsmanship and vocational education and has implemented a series of laws, mechanisms and ...