2017 BRICS Summit: Leaders Begin Meeting In China Next Sunday

The host country has invited the leaders of five other nations to the three-day summit.

The leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, whose nations make up the BRICS economic bloc, begin meeting in the southeastern coastal Chinese city of Xiamen from September 3-5, 2017 for their ninth summit. In the past week, all eyes in China have been on Xiamen as the country hosts the summit for the second time since the then BRIC was founded in 2006. The theme of this year’s meeting is “BRICS: Stronger Partnership for a Brighter Future.”

As this year’s chair of the economic bloc, China would like to members deepen cooperation in trade and development, security, culture and education, improve global financial institutions, and ensure closer coordination with the UN, World Bank, IMF and WTO, and other developing countries. The summit will also include the first BRICS business leaders’ forum, an opportunity for leaders of industry to exchange ideas and seal new partnerships.

Chinese Minister of Commerce, Zhong Shan, warned against trade favoritism at a meeting of BRICS Trade Ministers early this month, a sentiment likely to be repeated in Xiamen. “Safeguarding the multilateral trade system and rising against protectionism serve the common interests of emerging and developing economies,” Zhong underlined.