BRICS ministers urge cooperation on new industrial revolution

XIAMEN, May 23 (Xinhua) -- BRICS industry ministers met virtually on Monday, calling for deepening innovative cooperation on the new industrial revolution for achieving sustainable development goals in a stronger, healthier and more resilient manner.

The sixth BRICS Industry Ministers Meeting was held via video link in the port city of Xiamen, east China's Fujian Province.

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

During the meeting, the ministers had in-depth exchanges on promoting comprehensive cooperation, digital transformation of traditional industries, and collaboration on industrial and supply chains.

Xiao Yaqing, minister of industry and information technology, reviewed progress that has been made since the first Meeting of BRICS Industry Ministers in 2015, and lauded progress made through BRICS practical cooperation on industry with the establishment of the BRICS Partnership on New Industrial Revolution (PartNIR), alongside the BRICS PartNIR Innovation Center.

Xiao noted that, as the world faces a pandemic and drastic changes that have not been seen in a century, the Chinese government has taken proactive measures to balance pandemic response and socioeconomic development.

China stands ready to work with all parties to deepen innovative cooperation on the new industrial revolution for achieving sustainable development goals in a stronger, healthier and more resilient manner, the minister added.

Representatives present at the meeting issued a joint declaration, in which they encouraged the BRICS countries to deepen industrial cooperation and expedite the recovery and growth of the industrial economy through jointly creating an open, fair, vibrant and resilient environment, while fostering a stable, secure, mutually beneficial system for cooperation on industrial and supply chains.