BRICS urged to develop common position on issues
of global economic governance
March 27, 2012, Jaipur
“The BRICS group of countries should start building consensus for a
common candidate from among the group of developing countries as the
next Director General of the World Trade Organisation,” said G K
Pillai, Former Commerce and Home Secretary of India, and the Chief
Adviser to the BRICS Trade & Economic Research Network (BRICS-TERN).
He was speaking on the occasion of the Network’s meeting in New
Delhi in the run-up to the BRICS Leaders Summit which will be held
in New Delhi on 29th March 2012.
“BRICS should develop clear position on some common issues of
interests and coordinate among ourselves to make them happen. There
is a tremendous amount of goodwill among our leaders but they do not
always get reflected at the local level,” he added.
Welcoming the participants, Bipul Chatterjee, Deputy Executive
Director, CUTS International said: “The emerging south has a major
role in balancing the architecture of global economic governance.
The activities of this Network will be an important contribution to
that architecture.” “The Network members will analyse contemporary
issues and challenges of global economic governance, which will help
the BRICS group of countries to collectively put their demands on
the table,” he said.
Drawing from the Sanya Declaration of the BRICS Leaders Summit held
in China in 2011, five reputed policy research organisations came
together to form this Track 2 initiative which will work on a range
of issues on south-south cooperation. They are Fundacao Getulio
Vargas, Brazil; EcoAccord, Russia; CUTS International, India;
Shanghai WTO Affairs Consultation Center, China; and South African
Institute of International Affairs.
Li EnHeng, Senior Adviser, Shanghai WTO Affairs Consultation Center
and former Deputy Permanent Representative of China to the WTO said:
“The Network should identify issues of common interest and conduct
substantive debates and discussion on them.”
Presenting a paper on the possibility of a preferential trade
agreement among the BRICS group of countries, Lucas Ferraz of FGV,
Brazil said, the BRICS countries have a growing interest in
preferential trade agreements and there is an economic case for them
to form a trade bloc.
Reacting to this presentation, T S Vishwanath, Principal Trade
Policy Adviser of the APJ-SLG Law Offices said, it is important to
understand why, as against the past, emerging developing countries
are now more interested in more comprehensive free trade agreements
than just goods-only preferential trade agreements.
The discussion provided a deeper understanding of several aspects of
the possibility of PTAs among the BRICS group of countries. G K
Pillai wanted the group to look at supply-side capacity while
negotiating PTAs.
Olga Ponizova, Executive Director of EcoAccord, Russia presented a
paper on features and determinants of a green economy particularly
in the context of climate change negotiations. She argued there
should be a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis on the concept of
low-carbon economy and cooperation on technology transfer among the
BRICS countries.
The discussion centred on the necessity for cooperation including
technology transfer among the emerging south. Ligia Noronha,
Director, Resources and Global Security Division of The Energy and
Resources Institute said, for better transfer of technology there
should be flexibility in intellectual property rights regime.
“Binding commitments on the part of developing countries to cut
carbon emissions make sense only when it takes into account stocks
of carbon emissions as against just flows,” she argued. According to
G K Pillai, “Counter proposals are important elements of any
negotiation. In regard to climate change negotiations, we should
stick to our position on common but differentiated responsibility
for cutting carbon emissions.”
A study on a number of emerging trade-related issues such as trade
and climate change, trade and food security, trade, debt and finance
was presented by Faisal Ahmed, Associate Director, CUTS
International. Reacting to this presentation, Aaditya Mattoo,
Research Manager, Trade and Integration Division of the World Bank
said, it is important to understand where do the interests of the
BRICS group of countries converge and where do they diverge. “In
case of India and China, there is a conflict between carbon
externality and growth externality but not in case of Brazil,” he
added.
Underlining the importance of multilateral negotiations, Mattoo
argued that under-valuation of the Chinese currency should be looked
from the recent surge in trade remedial measures that other
developing countries are taking against China.
Gong Baihua, Associate President of the Shanghai WTO Affairs
Consultation Center presented a paper on Trans-Pacific Partnership
Agreement and its implications on BRICS countries. Since BRICS group
of countries is not a part of this Agreement, comprehensive impact
analysis of the TPP on trade and other important macroeconomic
variables is to be done to decipher future economic and strategic
challenges, he argued.
Catherine Grant, Project and Programme Head of the Economic
Diplomacy Programme of South African Institute of International
Affairs made a presentation on the role of BRICS group of countries
in global governance. The discussions revolved around how the
emerging south can play a pivotal role in global economic
governance, both through setting standards to be replicated as well
as contributing to strengthening the multilateral trading system.
The study assessed the role of BRICS in global economic governance
from a political economy perspective.
The BRICS-TERN Network has adopted and placed a resolution on some
of those common issues before the BRICS Leaders Summit. The Network
has also resolved to continue its work on some of the identified
issues so as to help the BRICS group of countries to develop common
position on them.
For more information, please contact:
Bipul Chatterjee, + 91 98292 85921,
bc@cuts.org
Kshitiz Sharma, + 91 98288 89991,
ks@cuts.org
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