By staff reporter DU CHAO
On August 29, China Today interviewed Iraqi Ambassador to China Mr. Ahmad Berwari and asked for his views on the BRICS Summit soon to be held in Xiamen, Fujian Province on September 3. The following are his comments:
Above all, we expect it to be a successful summit. China is a key country in the BRICS group, and will do everything in its power to make the summit a success. We hope it goes well, reassuring that it will be a successful summit by any standard. Of course, the member states of BRICS are all very important countries, they constitute 40 percent of the global population, and they are also fast-growing emerging economies. We have very good relations with all five BRICS countries, including China. The work of this group and its success in implementing its decisions and plans will benefit Iraq as well. The prosperity and continuous development of these countries are reflected positively on Iraq's relations with these countries. In the post-Cold War period, great changes have taken place in the world, especially in Europe. The rising of the BRICS group is a new paradigm of global governance, which has enabled the world to change the track from a monolateral world into a multilateral one. It is very important for world peace, when there are forces, such as BRICS, with all its military and economic potential, to balance the influence of the United States. This balance will certainly bring stability to the world; Iraq is part of this world.
As you know, the big goals of BRICS are primarily economic and financial. For example, the establishment of the New Development Bank is of great importance, as it will balance the work of large financial institutions that Iraq also deals with.
We consider BRICS projects and objectives very beneficial to Iraq. We expect this group to succeed in the future, because it includes and represents a group of countries with the fastest growing economies in the world and has some kind of connectivity with developing countries.
We always have great expectations for the BRICS Summit. For the summit in Xiamen, which will soon take place, we hope that it will not only focus on rapidly growing emerging economies but also other developing countries as well. In addition to the objectives of BRICS, South-South cooperation should also be an important focus. Developing countries that have emerged from wars, crises, or very complex political situations need the help and support of other countries to stand on their feet and rise again. Meanwhile, the objectives of the BRICS group are not to colonize countries, but to support developing countries through economic, trade, and exchanges. Therefore, we consider South-South cooperation to be one of the topics of concern to the BRICS group, which is also of great importance for Iraq.