BRICS: Delhi Declaration calls for global governance, slams unilateral wars and sanctions

The Hindu reported that the government should be commended for ensuring that Iran and the UAE, two rivals in the West Asian conflict, used the occasion for their highest-level bilateral meeting since the war began. 

The New Delhi Declaration, which was issued despite scepticism about all the differences within the grouping, presented the BRICS as a formidable front in its 20th year. The newspaper said, the position of Saudi Arabia, which has yet to formally join the group, remains ambiguous, as Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud arrived after the main session where the joint statement was adopted on Saturday. External Affairs MinisterJaishankar met Saudi FM Farhan bin Saud for the first time since Saudi Arabia signed Mecca Pact with Pakistan and Turkiye. 

The Delhi declaration by 11 countries was clear on issues of global importance. The declaration made a call for the reform of the Security Council and support for a greater role for Brazil and India while recommending new initiatives for global governance. It condemned western sanctions and tariffs and resolved to improve intra-BRICS trade and transact more in local currencies. It also condemned unilateral wars, without criticising any member. While the statement omitted references to the U.S.-Israel attacks on Iran, the assassination of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and of Iran's retaliatory attacks on its neighbours, especially the UAE, it is understood that this was due to a last-moment compromise effected between Iran and the UAE so as to forge the agreed text.

The government’s outreach to President Pezeshkian was apparent from the moment he landed, with a red-carpet welcome accorded to him wrote the Hindu adding that PM Modi was seen personally leading Mr. Pezeshkian at the BRICS Business event, while holding his hand firmly. Mr. Pezeshkian was the only BRICS leader to meet President Draupadi Murmu as well.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping also afforded the two countries a chance to reaffirm their political will to normalise ties. And his meeting with important leaders from the ASEAN grouping and African nations paid much-needed attention to India's ties with them. This BRICS Summit will be remembered for a moment of solidarity among countries that have many differences but are together in desiring a shift in traditional power equations to one more driven by their emerging economies.

PM Modi warns of ‘weaponisation’ of tech and critical minerals

India’s PM Modi warned against the “weaponisation” of technology and critical minerals and also spoke about various BRICS initiatives agreed upon during the Summit in New Delhi to strengthen supply chains and increase resilience against supply-chain disruptions.

He said “ we have agreed on a BRICS Integrated Early Warning System for the prevention of and response to infectious diseases,” Mr. Modi announced. “Early Warning Data Integration Guidelines have been prepared for disaster management. The BRICS Logistics Supply Chain Cooperation Framework will help make our supply chains more reliable and resilient,” he said. 

China outlines AI, smart manufacturing vision for BRICS

Chinese President Xi Jinping called on the BRICS countries to “rally the Global South” to ensure that an increasingly volatile international order was “free from double standards”. He offered a five-point AI and smart manufacturing initiative to take forward the digital future of the grouping, the Hindu reported. 

China has proposed establishing a “BRICS special economic zone partnership, under which countries can set up an intelligent portal, coordinate policies, and build a new frontier for open development”

The proposal from Beijing comes against the backdrop of China’s push to offer its AI platforms and smart manufacturing know-how to emerging countries and its trade and technology war with the U.S.

Putin pitches for independent BRICS trade routes and insurance

Russia proposed a new insurance mechanism and a collaborative initiative for the grain market for Brics member states.  President Vladimir Putin said the grouping to adopt a holistic approach towards pressing global challenges, the Hindu reported.

Mr. Putin proposed the new initiatives for economic growth among the BRICS member nations as well as the Global South nations amid crippling sanctions imposed by the Western powers on Moscow for its war on Ukraine.

The G-7 countries, the European Union, and the U.K. prohibited Western companies from insuring any ship transporting Russian crude unless the oil was purchased at or below a specified price cap. The Russian President pitched for setting up a dedicated platform for economic growth with the BRICS.

“We have independent routes for moving capital, labour and technologies. In fact, we can operate regardless of outside pressure,” Putin said. “We have some promising initiatives, such as creating an insurance mechanism and a grain market. These are Russian proposals, and we invite all other member states to make use of those."

 Al Jazeera and Reuters, reported on the declaration’s “deep concern” over the war in the Middle East and its calls for “maximum restraint”. 

BBC News said  that the summit “succeeded in delivering a joint declaration when divisions among members have rarely been so glaring”. The Associated Press reported that the address by Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, warned: “Pandemics, climate disasters and supply-chain disruptions have shown that in today’s interconnected world, no crisis remains confined to a single region.” 

India to export 654MW of power to Nepal daily till Dec 31 

Govt has agreed to export 654MW of electricity daily to flood-ravaged Nepal for 18 hours a day till Dec 31. The ministry of power Monday said the recent floods caused significant damage to hydropower infrastructure in Nepal, reducing its domestic power generation capacity and creating an additional requirement for electricity, ET reported. 

Trump says he would be OK with China building cars in US

US president Donald Trump said he would be “okay” with Chinese automakers building  vehicles in the US, despite “widespread opposition” from US lawmakers and auto companies, reported Reuters. Trump added that he does not want Chinese automakers to build cars in Mexico and ship them to the US. Trump’s ally, US senator Steve Daines, said the US may be “misjudging the sophistication of China’s technology sector” after his visit to Chinese cities Hangzhou and Guangzhou ahead of the summit between Trump and Chinese president Xi Jinping later this month, reported Bloomberg. 

‘China not dumping EVs in EU, consumers no longer want outdated fossil fuel cars’

John Gong, a professor at the University of International Business and Economics, wrote in the state-run newspaper China Daily that The real reasons behind China's exports are better products, rapid innovation and strategic direction in the face of a profound technological revolution as far as the automobile industry is concerned.

The automobile industry is undergoing wholesale electrification. Not only is the market moving toward EVs, consumers are also embracing advanced infotainment features and autonomous driving capabilities, features in which European automakers are lagging far behind.

Excess capacity in China is often cited as a major driving force behind the trade imbalance between the EU and China. Nevertheless, the excess capacity issue should be understood in a global context. When the industry is undergoing an electrification revolution, of course some capacities will be in excess and some in great demand.

Actually, the real excess capacity is outdated and inefficient — capacity geared toward producing cars that consumers no longer want, such as internal combustion engine vehicles.

If politicians in Brussels are still disciples of the free market and free trade, what capacity is in excess and what is not should be determined by the market, should be voted on by consumers with their pocketbooks.

An editorial by the Global Times says that as Europe grapples with “soaring energy costs”, China can “help downstream European industries absorb energy price pressures”.

UN charts course to manage global warming-limit breach

’The United Nations released Limiting Overshoot report, warning that breaching the 1.5°C global warming limit would bring irreversible losses that no adaptation initiatives could undo, DTE reported. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for the first time, set out a detailed “overshoot, peak and decline” pathway made for the scenario under which the world overshoots the Paris target of 1.5°C , which a UNEP report said was now unavoidable, but holds the peak as low as possible and then brings temperatures back down below the limit by the end of the century.

The report, Limiting Overshoot, released in Nairobi, said global warming would cross 1.5°C “in the next few years”. Even a scenario in which every country delivers on its national climate plan and net-zero target puts peak warming at 1.8°C, it said. According to the report, current policies point to a rise of about 2.6°C by 2100, with a range of 1.9–3.6°C. The pathway, the report said, "is by no means an acceptable or preferred pathway; it is simply the best remaining option."