BRICS Partnership on New Industrial Revolution innovation Center (BPI):
China being the most important member of the BRICS, having a strong will and huge capacity to contribute in BRICS has established BRICS Partnership on New Industrial Revolution innovation Center (BPI).
17 November 2020, President Xi Jinping announced that China will set up an innovation center for BRICS partnership on new industrial revolution in Xiamen City of Fujian province with a clear focus on policy coordination, personnel training and project development.
On 8 December 2020, the 2020 BRICS Forum on Partnership on New Industrial Revolution was successfully held in Xiamen, during which the BRICS Innovation Center was formally launched.
BRICS representatives and relevant international organizations gathered in Xiamen to witness the official launch of the innovation base for the BRICS Partnership on New Industrial Revolution.
It has become an important platform for the BRICS members to promote partnerships and to leverage each other’s strengths to develop and prosper against the background of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. However, it is open to non-BRICS members too.
Major Significance
1. A major initiative aimed at leading results-oriented BRICS cooperation, which was proposed by President Xi Jinping after taking into consideration of the overall interests and future development needs of all stakeholders.
2. An innate requirement and important platform for delivering closer BRICS cooperation and strengthening PartNIR.
3. A key driver for materializing PartNIR and a brand new platform for deepening BRICS cooperation.
Development Goals:
The BRICS Innovation Base adheres to the BRICS spirit of openness, inclusiveness, and win-win cooperation. It focuses on the implementation of the BRICS Partnership on New Industrial Revolution, and the innovation and cooperation in the industrial field. It also considers trade and investment, cultural exchanges, and other fields as a whole. Besides, the base systematically carries out international exchange and cooperation activities, enhances the impetus to BRICS cooperation and the ability to jointly meet the challenges of the new industrial revolution, and promotes the common realization of technological progress, economic prosperity, and social development.
The BRICS Forum on Partnership on New Industrial Revolution 2023 held in Xiamen, Fujian province on Nov16, 2023.
Better communication and policy coordination among BRICS countries have been called to deepen partnerships in areas such as smart manufacturing, new material and artificial intelligence.
Read: Transforming Gaza From Crisis To A Complex Strategic Quandary
Zhang Yunming, vice-minister of industry and information technology, said more efforts can be made to seize the opportunity of the new industrial revolution and jointly promote the industrialization process of the BRICS countries. He called for a greater push to strengthen policy communication and dialogue among governments, industries and academia on intelligent manufacturing, new materials and artificial intelligence; to carry out cooperation and training projects in cultivating new tech human resources; and to jointly promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization processes. He made the remarks at the BRICS Forum on Partnership on New Industrial Revolution 2023 in Xiamen, Fujian province on Thursday.
According to him, more efforts are needed to strengthen cooperation in digital infrastructure construction, bridge the “digital divide”, promote the digital transformation of the manufacturing industry and better benefit the development achievements of BRICS countries. “We also need to adhere to the concept of sustainable development and seek green industrial development in BRICS countries,” Zhang added.
BPI is well established, equipped, and supported by the Government of China, is functional very well and delivering its initial objectives appropriately.
Prof. Engr. Zamir Ahmed Awan, Sinologist (ex-Diplomat), Non-Resident Fellow of CCG (Center for China and Globalization), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, Pakistan.