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What Brics needs to become a global force

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(L to R) Russia's President Vladimir Putin, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, China's President Xi Jinping and South Africa's President Jacob Zuma join their hands during Brics summit in Fortaleza, Brazil. (Nel
(L to R) Russia's President Vladimir Putin, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, China's President Xi Jinping and South Africa's President Jacob Zuma join their hands during Brics summit in Fortaleza, Brazil. (Nel

With trade and labour practices differing markedly, cohesion – not just cooperation – is vital for Brics to advance economically

The Brics nations – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – must overcome challenges ranging from uneven economic development to different legal and cultural systems to become a cohesive force in global affairs, speakers at an international conference in Sandton said this week.

Apart from the recently established New Development Bank, which aims to mobilise resources for development projects in Brics and other developing countries, and the nascent Contingent Reserve Arrangement – established to strengthen the global financial safety net and complement existing international financial arrangements – the five Brics signatories had little in common to cement their ties, said Professor André Thomashausen, a constitutional law expert based at Unisa.

He was speaking at the 77th biennial International Law Association conference, held in Johannesburg from August 7 to 11.

Even the institution itself remained a loose association unbound by any legal structure, he added.

“Outside the New Development Bank, the Brics remain a sui generis – or a nonformal form of international cooperation – driven by the desire to bargain together, but hampered by a lack of historical, traditional, cultural or ideological cohesion – resulting in a coalition to rise in tandem, rather than a ‘community to rise together’,” he said.

The original Bric acronym – sans South Africa’s membership – was coined in 2001 by Jim O’Neill, the former chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

He cited the four-member bloc’s large and, at the time, fast-growing economies, as they strove to industrialise, as the common denominator.

South Africa, the smallest country in economic and population terms, joined in 2010.

From a desire in 2009 to advance the reform of the Bretton Woods institutions – the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank – the group has moved from cooperation to a commitment in 2015 to act jointly on key international issues ranging from UN Security Council reform to global conflict and climate change.

Thomashausen said that the bloc had significant collective weight, comprising about a fifth of global GDP at $16 trillion (R215 trillion), along with more than 40% of the world’s population and foreign currency reserves totalling $4 trillion.

However, large disparities marked the grouping, with China accounting for most of the reserves at $2.9 trillion and more than a third of the total population, while Russia’s GDP per capita – at $14 612 – was almost 10 times that of India.

“Brics should take a unified approach to the development of a common framework,” said Thomashausen.

While trade within the bloc was expected to have more than doubled to $500 billion by the end of 2015 – from $230 billion in 2011 – many obstacles to strengthening economic ties remained, panellists told the session.

Professor Belikova Ksenia, of the People’s Friendship University of Russia, highlighted different labour practices in the five countries and the different levels of compliance with International Labour Organisation (ILO) rules.

For instance, while South Africa had ratified 20 ILO conventions, Russia and China had large gaps in their laws governing worker rights.

In China, there was a single trade union system under which unions were approved. Collective bargaining was limited, while forced labour had not been outlawed as per ILO rules.

In Russia, the right to strike was curtailed, and freedom of association and collective bargaining were unprotected.

Unisa’s Professor Tana Pistorius encouraged the Brics nations to work together to reduce regulatory burdens and boost trade.

She suggested the bloc also cooperate on protecting biodiversity, on declaring the origins of genetic resources and on utility models.

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