Practical consensus

From Rio de Janeiro to New Delhi, BRICS members push for a concrete agenda for coordinated industrial and innovation-led development

The international system faces a defining development challenge — ensuring that globalization delivers balanced growth, technological capability, social inclusion and environmental sustainability. The postwar global institutions remain indispensable, but their representation, financing practices and policy priorities need to keep pace with the growing economic weight of emerging markets and developing countries. BRICS countries and partners represent nearly half of the world's population and about 40 percent of the global GDP at purchasing power parity, yet developing economies remain underrepresented in the institutions that shape financial rules, technological standards and development priorities.

This imbalance has intensified amid weak global growth, geopolitical rivalry, protectionism, high interest rates, debt distress, climate disruption and rapid technological change. For developing countries, these pressures directly affect their capacity to create productive employment, upgrade industry, secure food and energy supplies, finance public services and build resilience. Global governance reform must therefore go beyond adjustments to voting shares; it must expand access to long-term finance, technology, infrastructure, knowledge and productive investment.

Against this background, the 18th BRICS Summit, held from Sept 12 to 13 in New Delhi, has moved to translate multipolarity into a practical agenda for coordinated development. BRICS should not seek to replace one form of exclusion with another. Rather, it should advance more effective multilateralism based on sovereign equality, development, technological access and shared prosperity.

The 2025 Rio de Janeiro Declaration established an important political foundation by linking global governance reform with sustainable development, public health, food security, climate action, technological cooperation and inclusive growth. Its main implication is clear: Representation matters, but development capacity ultimately depends on material conditions. Countries require affordable financing, reliable infrastructure, advanced technology, skilled workers, robust health systems and the ability to generate more value from domestic resources.

BRICS has significant collective strengths despite the diversity of its members. Brazil combines industrial capacity with major agricultural, mineral, energy and bioeconomy resources. Russia retains important capabilities in energy, science, engineering and some strategic sectors. India combines a large and young population with expanding digital infrastructure, services capacity and industrial ambition. China contributes extensive manufacturing ecosystems, modern infrastructure, a large domestic market and growing technological capacity. South Africa remains a key industrial, financial and logistical hub for Africa. These differences should be understood as complementarities rather than obstacles.

The BRICS Summit in India provides the political momentum needed to translate the Rio de Janeiro Declaration into implementation. BRICS countries can promote cooperation in industrial upgrading, innovation, education and skills, climate finance, health resilience, sustainable infrastructure and responsible digital development. They can also strengthen the collective BRICS position on helping reform the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the World Trade Organization and other international standard-setting bodies. Representation remains essential, but more importantly, global governance gains legitimacy only when it produces tangible results for societies.

The future of BRICS rests on a flexible framework in which national development priorities reinforce one another while reducing exposure to commodity volatility, external technological monopolies and unequal forms of globalization.

To achieve this objective, BRICS must place coordinated, active industrial and innovation policies at the center of its agenda. Industrial upgrading does not emerge automatically from trade openness or market participation. It requires coordination among governments, companies, universities, financial institutions and research organizations to align investment, skills, technology, standards, public procurement, infrastructure and market access around strategic sectors. BRICS cooperation can support nationally tailored development strategies while strengthening collective resilience.

China offers a relevant example — not as a model to be copied mechanically, but as a source of practical lessons. Its development has been supported by long-term planning, infrastructure investment, domestic market expansion, manufacturing capacity, public finance and sustained growth in research and development. According to the Ministry of Science and Technology, China's research and development investment exceeded 3.92 trillion yuan ($569 billion) in 2025. During the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period, China remained the world's largest manufacturing economy, accounting for nearly one-third of global manufacturing value added. It is estimated that China took the lead in global manufacturing capacity of solar panels, batteries, wind turbines and electric vehicles by the end of 2025. China's renewable energy generation reached about 3,990 terawatt-hours in 2025, according to China's National Energy Administration. These figures show how sustained industrial and innovation policy, large-scale markets and infrastructure can jointly accelerate technological upgrading.

The central lesson is that innovation policy must connect science and technology with productive transformation. Innovation is not limited to patents, artificial intelligence or advanced laboratories. It also includes the capacity to adapt technologies, develop local supply chains, train workers, strengthen institutions and address practical development challenges. For BRICS and the wider Global South, this applies to clean energy, public health, food systems, water management, digital infrastructure, urban transport, climate adaptation and natural resource processing.

BRICS should prioritize joint research centers, university partnerships, scholarships, multinational entrepreneurship, technical training programs and technology transfer arrangements. Human capital is strategic infrastructure: No country can sustain industrial upgrading without workers, engineers, researchers, managers and capable public institutions. Members should also coordinate development finance and public procurement to create reliable demand for locally produced medicines, renewable energy equipment, digital systems, agricultural technologies and industrial inputs.

Infrastructure cooperation must move beyond isolated construction projects. Ports, railways, electricity grids, water systems, urban transport and digital networks create greater developmental value when linked to manufacturing zones, research institutions, skills development, regional supply chains and trade corridors. The clean energy transition illustrates this challenge. Developing countries should not remain only importers of solar panels, batteries, electric vehicles and renewable energy equipment; they can progressively participate in their design, production, installation, maintenance, recycling and technological upgrading.

Public health requires the same strategic approach. BRICS can strengthen joint research, regulatory cooperation, technology transfer, regional manufacturing and resilient procurement systems. Health capacity is both a social priority and a foundation of national resilience. Digital-health technologies and smart healthcare solutions developed in India and China can help support other BRICS and Global South countries in expanding access to diagnostics, improving hospital management, and establishing more efficient clinics and healthcare systems.

Finally, BRICS should support local value addition in minerals, energy, biodiversity and agriculture. Many Global South countries supply critical materials for the green and digital transitions but capture only a limited share of processing, manufacturing, intellectual property and high-quality employment. Cooperation in processing capacity, standards, skills, infrastructure, financing and research can transform natural resource wealth from a source of dependency into a foundation for industrialization.

A more equitable international order will be measured not only by greater representation, but also by whether developing countries can build technological capabilities, competitive industries, modern infrastructure, research institutions and resilient, high-quality employment.

The author is a former tourism minister of Brazil, a distinguished professor at Tsinghua University and a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in Shenzhen.

The author contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

Contact the editor at editor@chinawatch.cn.