BRICS summit discuss collaboration in the context of the 4th industrial revolution

Leaders from the BRICS countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – met from 25-27 July for the group’s 10th annual summit, held under the theme ‘BRICS in Africa: Collaboration for Inclusive Growth and Shared Prosperity in the 4th Industrial Revolution’. The Johannesburg Declaration was issued at the end of the meeting, emphasizing a commitment to multilateralism and the WTO, as well as in supporting an inclusive, sustainable development model. The BRICS Partnership on New Industrial Revolution (PartNIR) was launched, aimed at ‘deepening BRICS cooperation in digitalisation, industrialisation, innovation, inclusiveness and investment, to maximise the opportunities and address the challenges arising from the 4th Industrial Revolution”’ The Terms of Reference and a Work Plan for PartNIR should be developed soon and submitted to the BRICS chair. The summit declaration also mentions the creation of a network of science parks and technology business incubators, as well as support for technology-intensive small and medium-sized enterprises.