Xi unveils five initiatives for stronger BRICS

Sep 15, 2026 News

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– says deeper cooperation essential for greater progress

President Xi Jinping unveiled five initiatives covering the areas of artificial intelligence, trade and investment facilitation, digital industry, smart manufacturing, and talent development, to deepen practical cooperation among BRICS countries and bolster the collective strength of the Global South.

Addressing the second session of the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi as he wrapped up his two-day participation in the gathering on Sunday, Xi stressed that a stronger foundation for cooperation was essential for the expanded grouping to achieve greater progress. He urged BRICS countries to leverage their close ties with emerging markets and Global South countries, pursuing open cooperation for mutual benefit while safeguarding stable and smooth industrial and supply chains.

They should foster a larger integrated market, build incubators for innovation, upgrade traditional industries, develop emerging industries and deploy future industries, Xi added. China will be a pioneer in establishing a BRICS AI open source community, and it will support cooperation in developing and applying large language models, hold specialized AI seminars and training courses, and build an open AI ecosystem, Xi said.

He proposed a BRICS special economic zone partnership under which countries could set up an intelligent portal, coordinate policies and build a new frontier for open development. China will also host the BRICS Forum on Trade in Services next year to cultivate new drivers of economic and trade cooperation. Furthermore, China will push for the establishment of a BRICS digital ecosystem cloud platform and conduct digital skills training, technological exchanges and industrial alignment to jointly advance the digital economy, Xi said.

He expressed the country’s readiness to assist fellow BRICS countries in building smart factories and developing standards and norms, jointly promoting manufacturing transformation and upgrading. Xi also proposed a BRICS engineer cultivation alliance for the joint development of engineers and mutual recognition of competency standards. China will launch a BRICS youth exchange program for scientific and technological innovation to cultivate more high-caliber talent.

Noting that this year marks the launch of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30), Xi said China will continue to pursue high-quality development, expand high-standard opening-up, implement the Global Development Initiative and advance high-quality Belt and Road cooperation to share opportunities and prosper together with other countries. Liu Ying, a researcher at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China, said that as BRICS marks its 20th anniversary and moves toward its next “golden decade”, China’s five initiatives respond to the shared development needs of BRICS and the wider Global South.

China has offered not just directions for cooperation, but also concrete platforms and mechanisms to implement it, she said, helping BRICS countries expand their international voice while strengthening their own development foundations. Openness and inclusiveness in AI especially matter, Liu said, as open-source cooperation, large-model development and talent training can help Global South countries access and apply AI as a foundational resource for national development, an effort that China’s strengths in technology, industry and application can help make possible.

China is practicing “developmental multilateralism”, combining capacity building with real development outcomes, to help the Global South participate more fully in the new wave of technological and industrial change, and ultimately pushing the global system toward a fairer, more inclusive and balanced order, Liu added. As the Global South, with its collective rise, has become a key driver of world multipolarity, Xi said that to bring stability to the world and make it a better place, BRICS countries must seize the historical initiative, rally the Global South, be an active, stabilizing and positive force in international affairs, and advance the well-being of all humanity.

He stressed that Global South countries should jointly defend the rule of law in international affairs, safeguarding sovereign equality, noninterference in internal affairs and the peaceful settlement of disputes, to ensure that international law and international rules are applied to all, free from double standards.

Xi emphasized the need to uphold multilateralism and the authority and role of the United Nations, and to support multilateral institutions in advancing reform and increasing efficiency. World Trade Organization reform should proceed in the right direction, while the international financial architecture must be reformed and improved to increase developing countries’ representation and voice, he added.

Global South countries should remain committed to a people-centered development philosophy and strive to deliver on the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, he said. Addressing shared challenges, Xi said that Global South countries should work together to strengthen security governance, tackle traditional and nontraditional threats, and improve global climate governance.  BRICS draws its growing influence from an inclusive approach that respects different development paths and promotes shared economic gains, said Lan Qingxin, director of the BRICS Research Center at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing. (CHINA DAILY)

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• BRICS, digital industry, Global South, President Xi Jinping, smart manufacturing, Xi Jinpin

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