Virtue is not alone: Global South united for an inclusive, equitable and shared prosperity

The Global South, with a roughly 40 percent share of the global GDP and 85 percent of world’s population, is experiencing a rising importance in global affairs. As the BRICS countries head into their annual summit at the Russian city of Kazan, issues that are most important to the developing countries are taking central spotlight.

The International Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the China Media Group (CMG) have jointly hosted the “Peace · Development · Security: Jointly Build a Prosperous World with Share Future” Global South Think Tanks Forum on this occasion. The forum invited representatives of 40 think tanks from the Global South countries to discuss the future of global development in an era of great change and turbulence.

The forum saw the attending representatives signed and released the Initiative of Global South Think Tanks to Jointly Build a Prosperous World with Shared Future. This initiative will fully leverage the functions of think tanks of these countries to move forward together and form synergy to help the Global South countries advance faster and further on the path of pursuing development, prosperity, fairness and justice.

Liu Jianchao, minister of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, pointed out that the Global South has become a vital driving force for a new type of globalization that is universally beneficial and inclusive,  has offered a strong underpinning for an equal and orderly multipolar world and has become a staunch force for greater democracy in international relations. Going into the future, China will stand united with other Global South countries as always to shoulder the responsibility and play a role.

The CMG President Shen Haixiong said that Global South is on the rise and is becoming a major force for change in shaping the new order of global governance. China champions the cause of the Global South, actively explores development path for the Global South and contributes its wisdom and strength to the improvement of global governance.

Former Under-Secretary-General of the UN and Co-Chair of Europe-Asia Center Erik Solheim said in his remarks that the “time of the rise of the Global South is an enormous positive development.” “It will be a much fairer world, much greener world,” he said.

Geeganage Weerasinghe, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Sri Lanka, emphasized the importance of South-South cooperation in his remarks. “The Belt and Road Initiative, the Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative and Global Civilization Initiative are major initiatives,” he said, adding that they “strengthen the Global South cooperation, which is win-win cooperation.”

Anna Rosario Malindog-Uy, the vice president of the Asian Century Philippines Strategic Studies Institute, said during the forum, the “beauty” of the Global South is its diversity. “In diversity, there’s a lot of opportunity,” she said.

For many of the Global South countries, colonialism was a shared experience in their history. They want to remain independent in their policies while seeking chances to move their countries forward. And with the world facing conflicts, global warming, threats of poverty, food and energy insecurities, uniting the developing countries together could pave a safer and smoother path to achieve common development.

Over the years, there have been cooperation based on each countries’ different strengths and needs that has yielded concrete results. As alluded to by Larissa Wachholz, the senior fellow at the Brazilian Center for International Relations, Brazil is the fourth largest destination of Chinese direct investment in the world and most of the investments are directed towards Brazil’s energy sector. 50 percent of them are said to be in the clean energy sector.

“We are talking about investments in hydro, wind and solar that are very important, not only for the energy transition that we have been trying to develop until now, but also the ecological transition as a whole for the years to come,” Wachholz said.

Diversity brings about equity. Poland’s former Deputy Prime Minister Grzegorz W. Kolodko said in his remarks, “Global South” is a concept born from countries that seek mutual understanding and respect and wish to develop together with the developed countries on an equitable term and playing field.

And as the BRICS set to commence its summit, the Global South will be able to use this megaphone to let the world know its issues, understand the challenges and find ways to work together for their shared prosperity and a better future.