BUJUMBURA, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Envoys from China, Russia and South Africa say the five-member BRICS is a bloc of emerging economies to seek a complementary role rather than rivaling any world institutions.
The view was aired here Monday by the Chinese ambassador to Burundi and his Russian and South African counterparts at a press conference after a BRICS summit concluded recently.
The fifth BRICS summit of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa was held on March 26-27 in Durban, South Africa, with a theme of "BRICS and Africa: Partnership for development, integration and industrialization".
Chinese Ambassador Yu Xuzhong, Russian Ambassador Vladimir Malyshev and South African Ambassador Oupa Manavery said the five countries decided to create a BRICS development bank and a special reserve monetary fund of 100 billion U. S. dollars.
The summit, they added, also recommended the setting up of a Business Council and a Think Tank Council for the bloc.
The ambassadors noted that it was for the first time that the BRICS summit was held on the African soil and that it was also the first time the "BRICS-Africa" Dialogue Forum was held, with 15 African leaders taking part in bilateral discussions.
The participants in the BRICS-Africa Dialogue Forum included representatives of the African Union (AU), the East African Community (EAC), the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Economic Community of Central African States (CEEAC) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
The three ambassadors pointed out that the future BRICS development bank will not seek to rival Bretton Woods institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but it will play a complementary role to promote economic governance and create a balance in international relations.
The BRICS countries believe that the fight for the protection of human rights should first focus on the fight against poverty, according to the envoys.
"We should never say that the fight against poverty is not protecting human rights, this is the most important human right," the Chinese ambassador said.
"BRICS was not formed for confrontation, but for common development," ambassador Yu said in response to a journalist who wanted to know whether BRICS had not been formed to compete with the developed countries of the West.
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