Op-Ed Contributors
Developing countries' influence growing
Updated: 2011-04-19 08:57
By Jiang Shixue (China Daily)
The BRICS Leaders Meeting held on April 14 in Sanya, South China's Hainan province, captured a great deal of attention from the international community. The success of the summit once again underlines the significance of the rise of the five big emerging countries, which are exerting a profound influence on the world's political and economic framework.
Developing countries' aspirations for equality in international affairs, multi-polarization and the democratization of international relations are growing increasingly strong.
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Without the participation of developing countries, efforts to address today's global issues will not bear fruit.
Most of the existing international rules were established in accordance with the will of developed countries, and some of them are extremely detrimental to the developing world. The cooperation of developing countries, rising together, will improve their bargaining position, and enable them to play a balancing role in international affairs.
The rise of developing nations is also conducive to South-South cooperation. Dating from the Bandung Conference in 1955, South-South cooperation has had some achievements, but it has proceeded slowly - "beginning with thunder and ending with drizzle".
One reason for this was the lack of adequate funding, but the fast growth of the big five developing economies means funding is no longer a major obstacle.
Nowadays, globalization and interdependence among nations are steadily deepening. While the developing countries must still rely on the developed world for capital and technology, the developed countries now rely on the developing countries for their own growth. The recovery process in the wake of the global financial crisis has once again shown the importance of emerging economies in fueling world economic growth.
A common desire of developing countries is reform of the international financial system and this has become a driving force for discussions on the creation of a multi-currency reserve system.
The rise of the big developing countries has also provided the impetus for reform of the United Nations. With the rebalancing of the global framework, comprehensive reform of the UN is essential. Brazil and India hope to become permanent members of the UN Security Council. But no matter whether they succeed or not, it is clear that without the participation of the big developing countries UN reform will be difficult to achieve.
However, it should be stressed that the purpose of these reforms is not to weaken the UN's role, but to further enhance its status, in order to better deal with the current global challenges.
In September 2000, world leaders came together at the UN headquarters, committing their nations to a new global partnership to reduce extreme poverty and setting out a series of time-bound targets known as the Millennium Development Goals.
Large developing countries are at the heart of many of these goals and they are the drivers of economic and social progress in the developing world.
The rise of developing nations is also conducive to scientific and technological progress and cultural exchanges. The advancement of science and technology is closely related to a country's economic development level. The rise of the big developing countries has been accompanied by improvements in their science and technology.
In China, major technological innovations, which can also benefit the advanced world, are constantly being developed and high-tech industries are booming. India has become a major software-producing country and Brazil is a leader in ethanol fuel production technology and aircraft manufacturing technology.
The rise of big developing countries has accelerated technological progress and played an important role in narrowing the gap between the developing and developed world.
The author is a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
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