Chinese Initiatives Are Essential for the Strength of BRICS

Mokhtar Ghobashy, deputy chairman of the Cairo-based Arab Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said that initiatives proposed by China have promoted the strength of BRICS.

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"China's role in boosting BRICS is essential in light of the several initiatives proposed by Beijing in the past few years, including the Belt and Road, Global Development, and Global Security," Ghobashy said, adding that those initiatives have certainly sped up development and stability in the world and enhanced the strength and pace of the global economy.

Over the past 17 years since its establishment, BRICS, an emerging-market grouping that comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, has become an all-round and multi-level framework, accounting for some 40 percent of the world population and about a quarter of the global GDP.

As an attractive gathering, more and more countries desire to join BRICS, which signals its economic force, Ghobashy said, pointing out that most of the countries that officially requested to join BRICS are economic and political powers with regional influence like Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Iran.

When a country like Saudi Arabia, the largest oil producer in the world, bids to join, it will certainly add great momentum to the grouping, Ghobashy said, adding that the bloc's attractiveness is due to the fact that it provides development opportunities for countries.

"Joining the BRICS will increase investments and trade exchange between its member states, and the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) could offer soft loans," he said.

Ghobashy also noted that cooperation among BRICS members is a model to learn from, and many countries are passionate to join it because the gathering does not have geographic barriers.

Currently, the NDB, with an initial authorized capital amounting to US$100 billion, funds development opportunities worldwide, he added.