Interview: BRICS fosters growth for partners, says Zimbabwean minister

HARARE, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- BRICS has become attractive to developing nations and is fostering development based on fairness and transparency in global trade practices, a senior Zimbabwean official told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Developing countries are facing myriad challenges that are directly linked to the uneven relations caused by the current international mechanisms and organizations as certain countries have dominated the international order financially and militarily to their advantage, said Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Monica Mutsvangwa.

Africa has been suffering external political interference for decades, as is currently seen in the West African region, with ominous signs of regional destabilization, Mutsvangwa said.

Neo-colonialism is "a real menace" as it stifles investment and ensures resources are channeled to the "superpowers" through illicit financial flows, causing current account deficits for developing countries, she said.

She noted that most countries in Sub-Saharan Africa were familiar with the debilitating effects of Western-dominated global lenders' programs, and they "cannot access credit from these international institutions without predatory conditionalities being imposed on us," Mutsvangwa said.

She added the developing world had already begun to see alternative development and infrastructure financing without stringent terms through BRICS.

"This has enabled many developing nations to secure essential installations of power generation, food production and security. We have seen South-South cooperation deepening, opening up alternative trade routes and intra-regional trade that encourages the development of productive capacities of member countries, and those allied to the BRICS," she said.

Mutsvangwa noted that technology transfer had accelerated through these cooperative agreements around BRICS, along with capacity building that had seen developing countries evolve from primary industries to secondary and even tertiary industry production.

"This has meant that not only the volume of trade, but the rate of return on investments, has gone up markedly in these countries," she said.

"We are now equal partners with China and hence we are getting a fair return for our wares. China has been developing capacities for production, ensuring that technology is brought to our countries in order for us to stand on our own," she said.

"There is a lot of assistance that we have received (from China) that will ensure that we are put firmly on the path to sustainable development," Mutsvangwa said.