Remarks at the Press Conference of the BRICS Xiamen Summit

H.E. Xi Jinping

President of the People's Republic of China

Xiamen, 5 September 2017

Friends from the media,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good afternoon! It gives me great pleasure to meet with you and give you an overview of the BRICS Summit and the Dialogue of Emerging Market and Developing Countries.

The BRICS Xiamen Summit was concluded successfully yesterday. Under the theme “BRICS: Stronger Partnership for a Brighter Future”, leaders of our five countries had in-depth exchanges of views and reached broad consensus on the current international situation, global governance and BRICS cooperation. The summit adopted the BRICS Leaders Xiamen Declaration, which reaffirmed the BRICS spirit of openness, inclusiveness and win-win cooperation, reviewed the successful experience of BRICS cooperation over the past decade, and mapped out a new blueprint for strengthening BRICS partnership and deepening practical cooperation across the board.

During the summit, the Chinese side hosted the Dialogue of Emerging Market and Developing Countries. The leaders of BRICS countries, Egypt, Mexico, Thailand, Tajikistan and Guinea attended the Dialogue at our invitation. Under the theme “Strengthening Mutually-Beneficial Cooperation for Common Development”, leaders discussed ways of enhancing international development cooperation and agreed to forge broad-based development partnership and speed up the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development for the common development of all countries.

When BRICS cooperation started a decade ago amid profound changes in the international landscape, it received a lot of attention from the international community. Having stood the test of major challenges including the global financial crisis, the BRICS countries have embarked on a new path of promoting solidarity and win-win cooperation among emerging market and developing countries. Leaders are determined to take the Xiamen Summit as a new starting point, renew the commitment and work even harder for a closer, broader and more comprehensive strategic partnership and for another “Golden Decade” of BRICS cooperation.

We BRICS leaders believe that the world today is undergoing profound and complex changes. While the world economic outlook is improving, all sorts of global challenges continue to emerge. As nations with major influence, the BRICS countries must step up communication and coordination on important issues and work for a more just and equitable international order. We must play a constructive role and uphold the basic norms governing international relations and international fairness and justice. We must work together to address global challenges, promote open, inclusive and balanced economic globalization that is beneficial to all, speed up global economic governance reform, increase the representation and voice of emerging market and developing countries, and create an enabling external environment for the development of all countries.

We BRICS leaders believe that practical cooperation is the root of BRICS cooperation. A tree will only flourish when its root goes deep. We will, in line with the principle of mutual benefit, step up macro policy coordination, synergize development strategies and deepen all-round cooperation in areas such as economy, trade, finance, industry and sustainable development so as to bring about interconnected development. This year, BRICS practical cooperation has made new headway and gained even greater importance. We have developed cooperation roadmaps in areas such as trade facilitation, trade in services, currency swaps, local currency settlement and public and private partnership, set up the African Regional Center of the New Development Bank, and put together the BRICS Innovation Cooperation Action Plan. Thanks to our efforts over the past year, we have made new strides toward greater connectivity in trade, investment, currency and finance, and infrastructure. We all stress the need to place more emphasis on innovation, seize the historic opportunities offered by the new round of industrial revolution and improve economic structure at a faster pace so as to secure more resilient, sustainable and quality growth for all.

We BRICS leaders believe that it is in our common interests to deepen political and security cooperation and enhance mutual strategic trust. This is also what the international community expects us to do. Since the start of this year, we have had in-depth exchanges of views and reached important consensus on such issues as the international situation, global governance, international and regional hotspots, and national security and development. The meeting of high representatives for security issues and the first stand-alone foreign ministers meeting we held this year have injected fresh impetus to closer political and security cooperation. We have instituted regular consultations among our permanent representatives in New York, Geneva and Vienna to coordinate positions on major issues of common interest. We are making steady progress in our cooperation on counter terrorism, cyber security, peacekeeping, and the Middle East. All these efforts have raised the profile of BRICS. We support efforts to continue the good momentum of political and security cooperation, and we will play our part and contribute more to world peace and stability.

We BRICS leaders believe that the long history and splendid culture of our respective countries are our valued assets and must be cherished. This year has seen flourishing people-to-people exchanges and cooperation among our five countries. Colorful events like the BRICS Games, film festival, cultural festival, high-level meeting on traditional medicine have proved popular with our people. We are advancing cooperation between our legislatures, political parties, think tanks, young people and local authorities to create platforms for people with different background to participate in BRICS cooperation. We support efforts to institutionalize people-to-people exchanges, as they will contribute to greater mutual understanding and friendship and base the idea of partnership on more solid public support.

At the summit, we BRICS leaders share the view that as BRICS cooperation enters its second decade, institution building has to move forward in keeping with the changing times if we are to secure strong support for deeper and more substantive cooperation across the board. We support a stronger mandate for our sherpas and expect them to take stock of the follow-ups to every summit at regular intervals and explore new ways and paths of BRICS cooperation in order to bring our five countries closer together. As a matter of fact, this year we have already made new progress in BRICS institution building. I have mentioned the first stand-alone foreign ministers meeting and the regular consultations among our UN permanent representatives. In addition to these two examples, we have also set up cooperation platforms such as a Model E-Port Network, a working group on e-commerce, and alliances of museums, art museums and national galleries and libraries. These new mechanisms will lend strong support to our efforts to deepen political, economic and cultural cooperation.

Next year, South Africa will take over the BRICS chairmanship and host the 10th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg. We believe next year's summit will produce rich results. China is ready to work with other parties to give full support to South Africa in convening the summit and keep moving BRICS cooperation forward together.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a fine tradition for BRICS to conduct dialogue and cooperation with other emerging market and developing countries. Under the current circumstances, such dialogue and cooperation have become all the more important. The Dialogue of Emerging Market and Developing Countries hosted by China has sent a strong message for closer South-South cooperation and global development cooperation. Leaders attending the Dialogue agree that emerging market and developing countries, who enjoy good growth momentum, are well placed to play a bigger role when it comes to implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and improving global economic governance. We need to deepen South-South cooperation, create a "BRICS Plus" cooperation approach, reach out extensively to other countries to forge development partnerships and establish an open and diverse network of development partners. Together, we can blaze a sustainable path featuring innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development and inject more positive energy to global growth and shared prosperity.

To conclude, let me take this opportunity to thank other BRICS leaders and friends from the business, think tank, cultural and sports communities for your strong support for China's BRICS chairmanship. My thanks also go to the friends from the media who have been working really hard. I believe that with the concerted efforts of our five countries and people from different sectors, there will be bright prospects for our cooperation and for the development of BRICS countries.

Thank you.