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TOWARDS A LONG-TERM STRATEGY FOR BRICS

A proposal by the BRICS

Think Tanks Council

CONTENTS

PRESENTATION

In 2014 Brazil held the pro tempore presidency of BRICS. This means that Brazil also coordinated the meetings and work of all the groups created at previous BRICS summits during that year.

The BRICS Think Tank Council (BTTC) was no exception. Created in 2013, it held its third meeting in March 2014, in Rio de Janeiro. Ipea is the official Brazilian representative at the BTTC; therefore, its staff was responsible for organising and coordinating that BTTC meeting, as well as the VI BRICS Academic Forum.

At its meeting in Rio de Janeiro the BTTC members agreed to prepare a document dealing with a long-term strategy for the five countries. This document was later recommended by the BRICS leaders at their sixth summit, held in Fortaleza in July 2014.

It has, therefore, fallen to Ipea to coordinate the work to prepare this document. It is the result of a year of collaboration by the Think Tanks of the five countries and focuses on five pillars. It presents a diagnosis of the current situation with regard to these pillars and a set of recommendations to BRICS in each case.

It is expected that this important document will contribute to the definition of joint initiatives by the five countries, with the aim of improving their processes of social and economic development, as well as to joint action by the five countries in pursuit of their objective of achieving a better international order.

Jessé Souza

President of the Institute for Applied Economic Research

FOREWORD

It is understood by the BRICS Think Tanks Council (BTTC) members that the BRICS countries share common ideals in the pursuit of economic and social development. Reaching the corresponding goals will be facilitated by joint initiatives of the five countries, sharing experiences and information, as well as improving the conditions to foster intra-group trade and investment flows. At the same time, the BRICS members are committed to making joint efforts to build a more just and fair international order. This set of objectives imposes the need to build a rather wide-ranging common agenda in the medium to long run. This is the focus of the present document, jointly elaborated by the five think tanks.

At its third meeting, in March 2014, the BTTC approved a document entitled

Towards a Long-Term Strategy for BRICS – Recommendations by the BRICS Think Tanks Council, which was submitted to the BRICS leaders at their sixth summit. According to Article 66 of the Declaration following that summit, “The BTTC is encouraged to develop strategic pathways and action plans that will lead to the realization of this long-term strategy”.

The BTTC presents here the diagnosis of the current situation and then proposes a set of recommendations with regard to the five pillars selected in the above-mentioned document, namely: i) promoting cooperation for economic growth and development; ii) peace and security; iii) social justice, sustainable development and quality of life; iv) political and economic governance; and v) achieving progress by sharing knowledge and innovation.

Each of these issues was developed by a working group formed by members of the five countries. Each group was coordinated by the think tank of one of the BRICS countries. China coordinated the preparation of topic 1, Russia topic 2, South Africa topic 3, India topic 4, and Brazil chaired the preparation of topic 5 and coordinated the whole process.

These working groups comprised technical staff from the five governments, as well as experts from civil society in each country. It is understood, therefore, that the present set of diagnosis and recommendations corresponds to a broad view shared by various members of society in the five countries.

The document will be submitted to the Heads of State at their seventh summit, in Russia in 2015, and it is expected that it will contribute in a substantive way to the identification of lines of action to be jointly adopted by BRICS.

A work of this magnitude necessarily requires the efforts of several people. Group 1 was coordinated by Zhou Yuyun, and had as formal active members Claudio Amitrano (Brazil), Elena Rogathykh (Russia), Zhao Zhongxiu, Sun Jingying (China), Vivan Sharan (India) and Jaya Josie (South Africa).

Group 2 was jointly coordinated by Georgy Toloraya and Victoria Panova, and the formal members were Edison Benedito and Paulo Esteves (Brazil), Nandan Unnikrishnan (India), Zhao Zhongxiu (China), and Narnia Bohler-Muller and Candice Moore (South Africa).

Group 3 was jointly coordinated by Olive Shisana and Narnia Bohler-Muller, and the formal members were Maria Paula Santos (Brazil), Leonid Grigoriev (Russia), Rumi Aijaz (India), Sun Jingying (China) and John Luiz, Edward Webster, Jackie Dugard and Michelle Pressend (South Africa).

Group 4 was jointly coordinated by Samir Saran and Vivan Sharan, and the formal members were Carlos Lampert Costa and Ivan Oliveira (Brazil), Victoria Panova (Russia), Lan Qingxin (China), Jochen Mistelbacher (India) and Temba Masilela and Siphamandla Zondi (South Africa).

Group 5 was coordinated by Luis Kubota, and the formal members were Marnia Larionova (Russia), Jochen Mistelbacher (India) and Glenda Kruss and Rasigan Maharajh (South Africa).

The consolidated version of the document was prepared with the support of Tamara Farias, Andre Pineli and Luisa Nazareno, from Ipea.

This first joint activity by the BTTC is expected to be considered an example of the type of contribution that the group of think-tanks can provide in terms of analysis and proposals to BRICS.

Renato Baumann

2014 Coordinator of the BRICS Think Tanks Council (BTTC)