Thaindian News

By Naveen Kapoor

Sanya, Apr 13 (ANI): Chinese Trade Minister Chen Deming on Wednesday said that after the global recession, the world economic recovery is still facing challenges in the form of debt risks in Europe, turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa, and the tsunami that devastated Japan.

During a meeting of trade ministers of the five BRICS nations here, Chen said in the wake of the turmoil in the world, the BRICS countries should continue to contribute in the world economic growth.

“Faced with the world situation, the ministers unanimously agree that since the financial crisis in 2008, the world economy’s recovery is going on. But the process is not even, with lots of risk, especially, the sovereign debt crisis in Europe, the turmoil in Middle East and North Africa, and tsunami and earthquake in Japan have added to the uncertainties in world economic development. Therefore, BRICS should continue to contribute to global economic growth, despite the outstanding achievements of BRICS economies,” he said.

Heads of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), five of the world’s top emerging economies would be meeting in Sanya on Thursday to discuss a coordinated stance on international issues.

Earlier today, Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh along with Commerce Minister Anand Sharma met the Chinese delegation led by President Hu Jintao.

Reiterating Chen’s statement, Sharma said the development in the Middle East is affecting global energy security.

“We will be carefully watching the developments that are taking pace in the wake of what has happened in the last few months, particularly the developments in the Middle East and North Africa impacting very severely on the global energy security because of the spiralling oil prices and the food inflation, the food availability,” said Sharma.

The BRICS group has emerged as a loose united front to press the rich Western economies, especially the United States, which has traditionally dominated global diplomacy.

Yet there are many disparities among the BRICS member countries, and the past two summits of the evolving group have not achieved much.

This time, strains over China’s currency policies and trade surpluses could make concrete agreement difficult to reach.

The forthcoming BRICS Summit is the third in a row. The first one took place in Yekaterinburg in Russia on June 2009 while the second was hosted at Brasilia in April 2010. (ANI)