PRETORIA, April 20 (Xinhua) -- BRICS is relevant to tackling various local and global challenges, experts attending a seminar held here said Thursday.
The event, co-organized by the South African BRICS Think Tank (SABTT), Institute for Global Dialogue (IGD) and the University of South Africa in Pretoria, features topics such as the future of BRICS amid changing global dynamics.
IGD Executive Director Philani Mthembu said BRICS is relevant to global affairs, especially at a time of increasing uncertainties.
For BRICS to be sustainable, it has to expand beyond the economic sphere to include exchanges between think tanks, businesses and people-to -people communication, he said.
"BRICS will remain relevant and will not fizzle out. The onus is on us to sustain the relationship. The government has laid the foundation and it's an opportunity for us to capitalize on this strategic relationship...Let us not be distracted by many interpretations from the North," said Mthembu.
He said BRICS should use the current uncertainties to make the bloc stronger. South Africa has access to both the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean and can use that to its advantage in BRICS, he added.
Ashraf Patel, a researcher with SABTT, said there are potential beneficiaries in the New development Bank, a multilateral development bank established by the BRICS members, since Breton Wood Institutions like the World Bank and the IMF "were operating like merchant banks and did not serve the purpose they were established for."
"BRICS have a bright future and will remain relevant. It is relevant as a counter-balance force. South Africa must articulate more clearly its policy in partnership with BRICS countries and no in competition with them," said Patel.
Serges Djoyou Kamga from Thabo Mbeki Leadership Institute echoed the idea that BRICS is relevant to correcting the imbalances in the financial and multilateral institutions.
"BRICS is relevant because we all need it. It should be used to eradicate poverty, and economic development. If BRICS in all these meetings forgets people on the ground it will become irrelevant," he said.
