CAPE TOWN, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- China's assumption of the BRICS chairmanship in 2027 will provide new opportunities to further deepen practical cooperation among member countries and advance collaboration in innovation, green development and other areas, a South African expert has said.
"BRICS has evolved from a high-level dialogue forum into a platform for practical cooperation," Farhana Paruk, a Cape Town-based China-Africa expert, told Xinhua in a recent interview.
Paruk said the mechanism has developed a number of practical cooperation platforms and programs, including the New Development Bank (NDB), the Contingent Reserve Arrangement and initiatives in trade, finance, food and energy security, digital public infrastructure and people-to-people exchanges.
"Yet significant room remains to deepen collaboration, particularly in local-currency settlement and cross-border payment interoperability, supply-chain resilience, scaled-up NDB project financing and structured cooperation on AI governance, standards and skills development," she said.
"Under China's 2027 chairmanship, there is scope to deepen traditional cooperation through joint agri-tech platforms, affordable irrigation and food-storage systems and pooled expertise in solar, batteries, grids and green hydrogen," she said.
Paruk expected China to further advance cooperation in AI, the digital economy and green development through closer collaboration on governance, standards, finance and technology.
This could be achieved "by accelerating BRICS for innovation by scaling AI governance dialogues, shared testbeds, startup funds and digital economy standards, and delivering green BRICS through biodiversity, climate, green finance and environmental technology and research initiatives," she said.
Paruk also expected China's chairmanship to strengthen people-to-people exchanges among BRICS countries, particularly through greater interaction among young people, academics, cultural institutions and media organizations, helping make BRICS more visible and relatable to citizens.
On global governance, Paruk said China is expected to work with other BRICS countries to advance reforms that would give developing countries a greater voice in international institutions and promote more inclusive development.
"In parallel, China is expected to work with other BRICS members to promote a more just and equitable global governance system by advocating multilateral reform, greater representation for the Global South in financial and political institutions and rules that support development financing, climate action and digital inclusion," she said. ■
