China to work with BRICS to promote common development: Xi

BEIJING, May 19 (Xinhua) -- China is willing to work with all countries, including the BRICS nations, to promote common development around the world, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Thursday.

Xi made the remarks in a congratulatory message to a virtual meeting attended by representatives from political parties, think tanks and civil society organizations in BRICS countries and other developing nations.

Given the fragile global economic recovery, widening development gap and serious challenges such as climate change and digital governance, the BRICS nations should remain true to the bloc's founding purposes and work with other developing countries to rise to challenges and open up brighter futures, Xi said.

China is ready to work with all countries, including the BRICS countries, to accelerate the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, steadily push for the implementation of Global Development Initiatives, and jointly build a global development community, Xi said.

He stressed that political parties, think tanks and civil society organizations of BRICS and other developing countries should fulfill their responsibilities, deepen exchanges, and contribute wisdom and power to achieve common global development and build a community with a shared future for mankind.

BRICS is the acronym for an emerging-market bloc that groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Leaders including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is also president of the ruling African National Congress, and Argentine President Alberto Fernandez, also president of the country's Justicialist Party, offered congratulations on the opening of the meeting.

More than 130 political party leaders and representatives of think tanks and civil society organizations from 10 countries attended the meeting online.

Foreign representatives attending the meeting spoke highly of China's remarkable development achievements, saying they believed that the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative put forward by Xi have injected new impetus into world peace and development and the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.

They said that, in the face of global challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change, BRICS political parties, think tanks and civil society organizations should enhance their sense of shared destiny, firmly safeguard the UN-centered international system, reject bloc politics and camp confrontation, promote coordinated development in economic, social and environmental fields, and build a better, fair and prosperous world.