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13TH BRICS SUMMIT: INDIA
13TH BRICS SUMMIT India 16 BRICS ASTRONOMY MAGAZINE • bricsastronomy.org • June 2022
HIGHLIGHTS
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● The BRICS leaders have to ensure that BRICS is more productive in the next 15 years.
● The role that BRICS countries can play in the post Covid-19 global recovery under the motto of: “Build-back resiliently, innovatively, credibility, and sustainability”.
● BRICS has had many achievements in the last one and a half decades.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
n September 9, 2021, India hosted the 13th BRICS Summit, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the summit was streamed live. With the participation of other BRICS leaders -President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, President Vladimir Putin of Russia, President Xi Jinping of China, and President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa attended the summit which was presided over by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Collectively, these nations account for 41% of the world’s population, 24% of global GDP, and 16% of global trade.
The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had expressed appreciation for BRICS partner cooperation during the Indian Chairmanship this year. Prime Minister Modi granted the BRICS leaders the liberty to officially adopt an agenda under India’s tenure of chairmanship under the theme:BRICS@15: Intra-BRICS cooperation for continuity, consolidation, and consensus. “These four C’s are in a way the fundamental principle of our BRICS partnership”, said Prime Minister Modi. Furthermore, Prime Minister Modi added that, despite the hiccups posed by Covid-19 more than 150 BRICS meetings and programs were organised, 20 out of that 150 were of ministerial level. These meetings had paved the way and made efforts to further expand the BRICS agenda where BRICS achieved ‘several firsts’. The first-ever BRICS digital summit held was an innovation step with the help of technology where this format was stimulated by the BRICS water Ministers for the first time in November. “Our lives are fundamentally based upon technology and science”, said Prime Minister Modi. Constellation during a virtual meeting. According to Sanjay Bhattacharya - secretary to the government of India in the Ministry of External Affairs, the agreement would help boost collaboration between the BRICS countries in the use of outer space data and application in research and development of global climate change, food and agriculture security, disaster management, and water supply.
As a result, BRICS is creating multilateral systems and strengthening their cooperation on counterterrorism. On their counterterrorism agreement, the BRICS space agencies also agreed on the constellation of remote sensing satellites between them. On the 18th of August, BRICS space agency leaders signed an agreement of cooperation on Remote Sensing Satellite The contributing satellites will be the CBERS-4 satellite from Brazil and China, the Kanopus-V satellite from Russia, the Resourcesat-2 and 2A satellites from India, and the GF-6 and ZY-3/02 satellite from China. These satellites will send data to ground stations located in Cuiaba - Brazil, Moscow Region in Russia, Shadnagar-Hyderabad in India, Sanya in China, and Hartebeesthoek in South Africa.
In an article published by the Geospatial World, the Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA) says that such an adjustment could lead to cooperation among BRICS space agencies for building a new constellation of remote sensing satellites and data-sharing mechanisms based on the use of existing satellites from BRICS space agencies.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS TO THE NEW DELHI DECLARATION
With BRICS celebrating fifteen years since its inception, thus the theme of India is BRICS@15: Intra-BRICS cooperation for continuity, consolidation, and consensus. Leaders of BRICS signed a declaration in New Dehli pledging support for initiatives to strengthen business cooperation between the countries. On the declaration, a preamble was signed where agreements were accepted on consolidation and stocktaking,
DISCUSSIONS HELD AT THE 13TH BRICS SUMMIT
● First BRICS health summit ● First BRICS ministerial joint summit on multilateral reforms ● BRICS counter-terrorism action plan (Afghanistan) ● An agreement on cooperation in the field of remote-sensing satellites ● A Virtual BRICS vaccine research and development centre ● BRICS alliance on green tourism. challenges on global health and COVID-19, a section on strengthening and reforming the multilateral system, Peace, Security and CounterTerrorism cooperation, sustainable development and innovation means to achieve it, economic and financial cooperation for sustainable development and more. According to the New Delhi Declaration, the tangible contribution to achieving the 2030 Agenda will come from the application of space technologies for peaceful purposes. The leaders
commended the signing of the agreement amongst BRICS Space Agencies on BRICS Remote Sensing Satellite Constellation.
The grouping approved the establishment of a BRICS Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) Cooperation agreement to bring together researchers to tackle emerging and new challenges. They also acknowledged the progress that the BRICS STI Steering Committee has achieved. Furthermore, BRICS leaders noted that the Covid-19 pandemic had changed the learning curriculum and are in agreement about the importance of leveraging digital solutions to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education, while enhancing research and academic collaboration.
SIDEBAR OF BRICS SPACE AGENCIES
● Brazilian Space Agency (AE) ● Russia’s state space corporation Roscosmos (ROSCOSMOS) ● Indian Space Research
Administration (ISRO) ● China National Space
Administration (CNSA) ● South African National
Space Agency (SANSA)
As part of its commitment to increasing economic and social development, the grouping recognizes the value of agricultural and rural revitalisation, thus welcoming the BRICS Agriculture Information Exchange System and the BRICS Agricultural Research Platform, as well as adopting the Action Plan for this year through 2024.
ON AFGHANISTAN
As a way to maintain stability, peace, and order in Afghanistan, leaders from BRICS called for violence to be avoided and for mediation by an inclusive intraAfghan dialogue. Their top priorities included addressing humanitarian needs and enforcing human rights, especially those of women and children.
