Brics pivotal in sustained move towards global income equality

FOREIGN ministers of Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) meet on Sunday and Monday in Beijing, ahead of the group's 9th annual summit of presidents and prime ministers in September. The Beijing meeting will unveil China's agenda for this year's leaders event in Xiamen which will build upon the 2016 summit in India that focused on institution-building to deepen, sustain and institutionalise Brics cooperation to make the group even stronger in the future.

At last year's Goa summit, reform of the global financial architecture was a key agenda item, including expanding the role of emerging economies in the IMF, and the Brics agreed to set up a new credit-rating agency. The group also called on the Brics New Development Bank to focus on funding specific development priorities and set up research centres in areas including agriculture and railways.

The Beijing session, which will be chaired by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and feature all five foreign ministers except Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj who will be replaced by Minister of State Vijay Kumar Singh, comes at a potentially pivotal moment in the battle against global economic inequality. Remarkable World Bank research indicates that, for the first time in two centuries, overall global income inequality - one of, but not the only measure of economic inequality - appears to be declining.