BRICS cooperation

In an effort to become a role model for practical cooperation in the sphere of the new industrial revolution among the BRICS countries of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, the coastal city of Xiamen in East China's Fujian province has broken new ground and implemented new initiatives.

In September 2017, the BRICS Summit was held in Xiamen, and in September 2021, the BRICS Partnership on New Industrial Revolution Innovation Center was launched in Xiamen, both of which deepened the cooperation between Xiamen and other BRICS countries. The establishment of the BRICS innovation center has become a major historical opportunity for Xiamen to achieve a higher level of opening-up to the outside world.

The innovation center, which serves as a pillar for promoting BRICS cooperation, is expected to help improve developing countries' capacities to seize the opportunities brought about by the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Xiamen also plans to utilize the innovation center to help the city become the nucleus of the BRICS network.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period, Fujian plans to accelerate the construction of the BRICS Partnership on New Industrial Revolution Innovation Center in Xiamen, and deepen cooperation with BRICS and BRICS Plus countries in fields such as digitization, industrialization, innovation-driven development, and investment, as well as talent training and project development.

Xiamen has also responded actively to the central government's call to promote the development of the BRICS Partnership on New Industrial Revolution Innovation Center based on high standards. Efforts have also been made to deepen cooperation with BRICS countries, and a batch of new projects related to BRICS cooperation have been set up in the city, and all of which are expected to help Xiamen build the innovation center into a platform for deepening pragmatic cooperation between BRICS countries.

Since the launch of the innovation center two years ago, more than 120,000 personnel from 28 countries have been trained and more than 100 BRICS demonstration projects have been launched.

BRICS cooperation has brought great benefits to Xiamen. Official data showed that in the first seven months of the year, Xiamen's foreign trade volume with BRICS countries reached 47.9 billion yuan ($7 billion), a year-on-year increase of 20.7 percent, and accounted for 9.1 percent of the city's total foreign trade during the period.

As of December 2021, four other BRICS countries－Brazil, Russia, India, and South Africa – have invested in 108 enterprises in Xiamen, Fujian province, with a contractual foreign capital totaling $51.47 million and the actual use of the foreign capital hitting $3.39 million.

On Dec 8, 2020, the BRICS Partnership on New Industrial Revolution innovation center was established, which provides a foothold for members to make use of technological innovation and digital transformation brought by the new industrial revolution, and since then Xiamen has become a hot spot for businesses from BRICS countries.

Districts in Xiamen have been bolstering their efforts to create a better business environment for BRICS countries in the city.

For instance, the BRICS Future Innovation Park in Jimei new town is building an industrial communication platform covering the digital export economy, big data, artificial intelligence, cross-border e-commerce, the internet of things, and integrated circuits. Xiamen University is also building the BRICS research institute and a training base in Maluanwan new town in Haicang district.

In addition to the establishment of various industrial parks and bases, Xiamen is also fostering its business environment with coordinated policies, talent cultivation, and project development.

To shine light on this aspect, Xiamen offers vocational trainings to talents from BRICS countries and is gradually setting up a vocational skills certification mechanism.

With all the efforts, including platform establishment, project docking, scientific research cooperation, as well as trading and investment, Xiamen is transforming into a magnet that's attracting the increasing attention from BRICS countries.

Statistics show that from January to November in 2021, Xiamen's foreign trade with BRICS countries increased 20.15 percent year-on-year. In November 2021 alone, the city's foreign trade to BRICS member South Africa surged 77.25 percent year-on-year.

Since its inception in December 2020, the BRICS PartNIR Innovation Center in Xiamen, Fujian province has signed agreements on 77 BRICS cooperation projects with an investment of 38.5 billion yuan ($5.29 billion).

The BRICS Future Innovation Park, an important innovation carrier of the BRICS innovation center, has accumulated 36 projects and has an occupancy rate of over 95 percent. 

Talent training is another important task of the innovation center. The center focuses on the fields of new industrial revolution and key areas of the global development initiative, and carries out both online and offline training. So far, the center has held more than 40 training and exchange activities, covering more than 80 countries, with nearly 1.8 million participants. 

At the same time, Xiamen has continued to deepen economic and trade cooperation with other BRICS countries. The first BRICS cross-border e-commerce air freight line between Xiamen and Sao Paulo was officially opened in February. The China-Europe (Xiamen) freight trains have been running stably, and the China-Russia line has shipped 401 trains with a combined cargo value of nearly 7.9 billion yuan.

Moving forward, the BRICS innovation center will closely follow the BRICS expansion process, step up efforts in the three key areas of policy coordination, talent training and project development to expand "BRICS+" cooperation and contribute to construct a better innovation center.