Beijing: The first BRICS Friendship Cities and
Local Governments Cooperation Forum opened on Friday in the
Chinese beach-side resort of Sanya, focusing on deepening
cooperation between the world's five major emerging economies.
Politicians, scholars and business people from the five
BRICS countries -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South
Africa -- will meet at the two-day forum to foster further
communications and discuss shared concerns amid global uncertainties.
India was represented by diplomats from here as some of
the mayors of Indian cities who were scheduled to attend it
have not come.
The decision to hold this forum was announced at the BRICS
summit in April this year, when leaders of the five nations
jointly issued a declaration to seek shared prosperity.
Under the theme of "Broad Vision, Shared Prosperity,
Developing Friendship Cities, Promoting Cooperation," the
forum is expected to bring together BRICS cities with regular
meetings to foster closer ties and boost local-level
cooperation.
"The forum is expected to create a platform to boost
communication between local governments and further promote
ties between BRICS sister cities," said Lu Yongxiang, a senior
Chinese legislator at the opening ceremony.
The BRICS countries have played a significant role in
maintaining world peace, safety and stability.
They have also contributed to global growth,
multilateralism, and democratisation of international
relations, Lu, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the
National People's Congress.
"Promoting common prosperity has become an especially
urgent and important task in the face of all the current
global uncertainties," state run Xinhua news agency quoted him
as saying.
Chinese cities now have established 1,817 sister-city
agreements with foreign cities and states, of which 167 were
from the BRICS countries.
PTI
First Published: Friday, December 02, 2011, 15:28