Guterres reached Kazan to attend 16th BRICS Summit

Monitoring Desk: The Kazan Declaration has demanded reforms in the United Nations structure, particularly the Security Council. Having 134 points, the Declaration voiced against unilateral sanctions and settlement of regional crises, including in Ukraine and the Middle East.

According to TASS News Agency, the Declaration expressed concern about the rise of violence and continuing armed conflicts in different parts of the world including Gaza and Ukraine, and mentioned an Israeli attack on the Iranian embassy in Damascus and a terrorist attack on Lebanon involving the use of communications equipment, including pagers.

The Declaration was quite tough on Israel as it also demanded the establishment of the sovereign State of Palestine within the internationally recognized 1967 borders and its admission to the UN.

The Declaration called for the revival of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran’s nuclear program, which the US has unilaterally rejected.

The Declaration demanded an open and fair multilateral trade system with a central role for the World Trade Organization (WTO) providing a special regime for developing countries.

Commenting on BRICS formation and vision, Ambassador (retd) Mazhar Javed who also served as Director General of the Foreign Service Academy (FSA) Islamabad stated:

BRICS, together with SCO is one of the two intergovernmental organizations identified as a non-Western block striving for an economic and political order that could offer an alternative to the existing Western model that was established during the Second World War in 1940s; BRIC was formed by China, Russia, Brazil, and India with an economic outlook and agenda; the term BRIC itself was a brainchild of Goldman Sachs.

BRICS, which has lately assumed a largely, geopolitical character is associated with multi-polarity and the Global South. Though in an embryonic form, the Communique of the First BRIC Summit had called for “more power for developing nations in international financial institutions”. The expansion of BRICS last year and anticipated further expansion has given the organization a greater geopolitical character and weight. Global trends in favor of multi-polarity are likely to provide buoyancy to the organization.