BRICS Countries Join Hands to Set A New Model of International Governance As A Joint Response to Challenges

[Author] Zhang Xiaoqing

[Briefing]

From November 30to December 1, 2020, the 6th BRICS Youth Summit and the Ministers' meetingwere held online. Under the theme“BRICS: Challenges of the Time for young people”, young delegates from BRICS countries were engaged in heated discussion on numerous topics onas volunteering, creative industries, official and public diplomacy, youth energy cooperation, and youth entrepreneurship and innovations, and they submitted a proposal on how to promote communication and cooperation of BRICS countries on previously mentioned fields. These meetings had reached the final resolution.

Dr. Zhang Xiaoqing, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Institute for Global Cooperation and Understanding, participated the summit as a member of Chinese delegation and gave a speech as the group leader of“official and public diplomacy”. Below is the summary of her speech.

[Summary]

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, China, together with other members of the BRICS have made outstanding contributions on global governance in their cooperation on the fields of joint combat against the pandemic, economic initiative and multilateral system.

China, though as the first victim of the virus, is taking quick action in fighting against COVID-19 pandemicat home and assisting other countries in pandemic prevention and control. China is determined to continue making COVID-19 vaccines a global public good, ensuring their affordability and accessibility, particularly for developing countries. China will also keep sharing essential information and medical resources.

In coping with the pandemic challenge, members of the BRICS should build more public diplomacy channels at different levels. During the pandemic, top Chinese doctors are sharing COVID-19 prevention and treatment experiences with foreign peers from different countries, including U.S, European countries and BRICS members. Since public diplomacy is the best cure for the fight against divide. As young delegates, we are obligated to speak the truth, and clear the misleading information.

Looking ahead,BRICS countriesshallcontinue to fight the epidemic, strengthen exchanges among scholars in various fields and engage in more creative cooperation on global issues.