BRICS News

The Summit will focus on the state of the global economic recovery, intra-BRICS trade and a greater role for emerging economies in the international financial architecture [Xinhua]The southeastern Chinese city of Xiamen is all set to host leaders of the five BRICS countries: Russian President Vladimir Putin, Brazilian President Michel Temer, South African President Jacob Zuma and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The 9th annual BRICS summit is being held from Sept. 3 to Sept. 5.

President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, third right, and President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping, left, at a a BRICS event on 9 July 2015 [Image: brics2015.ru]Moscow will push for a BRICS Energy platform, a BRICS consolidation against protectionism and greater foreign policy coordination among the five members, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Special Report on 9th BRICS Summit in Xiamen, China
Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei (C), Shanghai Mayor Yang Xiong (R) and President of the New Development Bank (NDB) of BRICS K.V. Kamath attend the launching ceremony of the bank in Shanghai, east China, July 21, 2015 [Xinhua]
The BRICS New Development Bank is hoping to increase the size of its loans in 2017, a Chinese Ministry of Finance official said on Thursday.
The statements by Zhou Qiangwu reiterate remarks made last year by the NDB Vice-President Zhu Xian.

More than 2,000 workers were dispatched to Southwest China to help with relief efforts after the landslide in Guizhou [Xinhua]
Chinese officials in the southwestern province of Guizhou say the death toll from a landslide which struck early Monday has now risen to 23 and warned the number could go higher as rescue operations continue.
They say that relief units were able to pull eight people alive out of the debris but that they were still looking for 12 reported missing.

Intra-BRICS trade ties remained robust for the past year [Xinhua]Host China has invited five non-member countries to the annual BRICS leadership Summit that begins this Sunday.
“This time, China has adopted a global approach and invited five countries from various parts of the world,” Russian Ambassador to China Andrei Denisov was quoted by Russian agency Tass.
UNASUR and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) leaders were invited to attend the 6th BRICS Summit in Brazil. The African Union had participated in the 2013 Durban BRICS Summit.

Despite reports of a rift with China in US media, tensions between Pyongyang and Washington appear to have subsided
The war of words between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appears to have subsided this week as South Korean President Moon Jae-in announced he was seeking improved relations with Pyongyang.
During a political rally in Arkansas earlier in the week, Trump claimed that Kim was “starting to respect us” even as the North Korean leader continued to inspect weapons facilities in his country.

There are fears that the standoff between North Korea and the US could rattle Asian markets and derail Japan’s revitalized economy [Xinhua]
If Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is feeling smug about economic policy right now, he’s got the figures to back him up.
Second quarter GDP growth jumped a full 1.0 per cent in Q2 of the year to reach an annualized 4 per cent, a coup for his policies of raising value added taxes to boost income and stimulate the market.
The latest data beat forecasts of a gain of 0.6 per cent in Q2.

File photo: Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) with his South African counterpart Jacob Zuma and Chinese President Xi Jinping (right) at the 5th BRICS Summit on 27 March 2013 in Durban, South Africa [PPIO]
The African Regional Centre of the New Development Bank (NDB) was launched by South African President Jacob Zuma on Thursday in Johannesburg.
The African Regional Center will allow countries in the continent to have access to the $100 billion NDB.

Some 1.1 million Jews and more than 100,000 other prisoners were murdered between 1940 and 1945 at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland, making it the site of the largest mass execution of human beings ever recorded.
Dr. Piotr Cywiski, Director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial speaks out about “incitement to hatred and exclusion” during the Nazi era and in our current world in an interview to Faces of Democracy.
Excerpts:

FDI may have decreased slightly but the net inflow has increased as Beijing works to reduce capital outflows [Xinhua]
In a sign that China’s economy is returning to a robust level and that confidence in the world’s biggest market is getting an uplift, Beijing officials announced this weekend that the ratio of foreign capital inflows in a wide range of sectors versus outflows has reversed the negative trends of previous years.
In the first two quarters, the net inflows hit $16 billion.