{UAH} BRICS Summit: An Ongoing Missed Opportunity?
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Written by Lumumba Amin
Publish date: 25th July 2018
The BRICS Summit starts today in Johannesburg, South Africa (scheduled from
25th to 27th July 2018). While African elites are quick to flock in
business class to more global events like the World Economic Forum,
developing countries should use the BRICS Summit in a similar way and as a
platform for networking and debating amongst ourselves the real common
challenges we face in developing countries. We rarely have opportunities to
formally or informally discuss common positions that we should take in
matters where we are confronted with as we face the worlds rich countries.
Free trade, the environment, and any other issues where we are unfairly
treated and where our development is seemingly deliberately hindered by
first world countries.
The economic trend that is emerging globally is trade between BRICS
countries and the rest of the developing world. Acknowledging this
fait-accompli and empowering it further through strategic deal/agreement
making interactions on a formal platform like the BRICS Summit could
possibly be a very productive undertaking for developing countries,
initiated by developing countries. But aren't we still sleeping while the
opportunity to passes as by?
BRICS is a group whose name is an acronym of its membership Brazil, Russia,
India, China and South Africa. The leaders of China and India are using the
opportunity to tour a few selected African countries prior to the summit.
While China's leader offered South Africa $14.5 billion dollars in
investment yesterday, India's Prime Minister offered Uganda $200 million
dollars of credit on the same day. Loans ringfenced for purchasing
exclusively Indian products. Besides the amounts involved, the key
difference between the two agreements is that South Africa is focusing on
being a producer, while Uganda is being encouraged to remain a consumer...
of strictly Indian products. The advice I would give is that Uganda uses
that line of credit strictly to purchase Indian-made means of production
rather than merely purchase Indian-made consumer products that we still
have to repay with interest. We should be mindful that this is actually yet
another loan aggravating our already heavy national debt burden.
However if there is one group of products where India plays an important
role in all developing countries, it is in the pharmaceutical industry.
Their legislature boldly passed a controversial law that allowed them to
bypass all international patent regulations and cheaply produce life-saving
generic drugs against HIV/AIDS for example. Without that legislative
breakthrough, millions of people in the developing world, including Indians
themselves, were simply dying because the HIV/AIDS medication offered by
the big western pharmaceutical corporations was too expensive for our poor
peoples, and therefore constituted quite a cruel death sentence because the
medecine was right in front of patients but it was just too expensive.
If there is any legislation that Uganda (or African countries) should copy
from India, that would be it. In fact such a law would help boost our
pharmaceutical industries, prevent deaths of our people from manageable
diseases, provide jobs in the industry, and bring in tax revenue that can
be utilized for other critical projects and public services.
BRICS was initially designed to reduce Third World countries' dependence on
World Bank and IMF funding for their development projects. Essentially
BRICS promised to be a new alternative that understood the real needs and
challenges of the Third world. However it shouldn't start the same "smart"
tricks of colonialists who are pretending to help but in reality they are
endebting us further, actually maintaining us in macro-economic poverty as
strictly consumers, and they are serving their own industrial production
through us.
The other truth is that BRICS has been largely maligned and subtly
undermined by leading Western countries and their global financial
institutions because it they see it as competing with their own World Bank
and IMF for the control of Third World countries. However the BRICS
organization appears to be failing to live up to its initial great promises
to the developing world following its launch just a few years ago. While a
South African newspaper states that "the annual summit will focus around
political and socio-economic coordination as well as giving countries a
chance to identify and act on business opportunities and areas of
cooperation", experts might see that as mere talk unless we see actual data
proving the organizations actual development work and achievements. Some
economic affairs pundits in the media are already claiming that BRICS is
turning into an empty tinpot monetary fund. It is up to us in the
developing world to make it work and make it serve our common political and
socio-economic interests.
--
Disclaimer:Everyone posting to this Forum bears the sole responsibility for any legal consequences of his or her postings, and hence statements and facts must be presented responsibly. Your continued membership signifies that you agree to this disclaimer and pledge to abide by our Rules and Guidelines.To unsubscribe from this group, send email to: ugandans-at-heart+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
Publish date: 25th July 2018
The BRICS Summit starts today in Johannesburg, South Africa (scheduled from
25th to 27th July 2018). While African elites are quick to flock in
business class to more global events like the World Economic Forum,
developing countries should use the BRICS Summit in a similar way and as a
platform for networking and debating amongst ourselves the real common
challenges we face in developing countries. We rarely have opportunities to
formally or informally discuss common positions that we should take in
matters where we are confronted with as we face the worlds rich countries.
Free trade, the environment, and any other issues where we are unfairly
treated and where our development is seemingly deliberately hindered by
first world countries.
The economic trend that is emerging globally is trade between BRICS
countries and the rest of the developing world. Acknowledging this
fait-accompli and empowering it further through strategic deal/agreement
making interactions on a formal platform like the BRICS Summit could
possibly be a very productive undertaking for developing countries,
initiated by developing countries. But aren't we still sleeping while the
opportunity to passes as by?
BRICS is a group whose name is an acronym of its membership Brazil, Russia,
India, China and South Africa. The leaders of China and India are using the
opportunity to tour a few selected African countries prior to the summit.
While China's leader offered South Africa $14.5 billion dollars in
investment yesterday, India's Prime Minister offered Uganda $200 million
dollars of credit on the same day. Loans ringfenced for purchasing
exclusively Indian products. Besides the amounts involved, the key
difference between the two agreements is that South Africa is focusing on
being a producer, while Uganda is being encouraged to remain a consumer...
of strictly Indian products. The advice I would give is that Uganda uses
that line of credit strictly to purchase Indian-made means of production
rather than merely purchase Indian-made consumer products that we still
have to repay with interest. We should be mindful that this is actually yet
another loan aggravating our already heavy national debt burden.
However if there is one group of products where India plays an important
role in all developing countries, it is in the pharmaceutical industry.
Their legislature boldly passed a controversial law that allowed them to
bypass all international patent regulations and cheaply produce life-saving
generic drugs against HIV/AIDS for example. Without that legislative
breakthrough, millions of people in the developing world, including Indians
themselves, were simply dying because the HIV/AIDS medication offered by
the big western pharmaceutical corporations was too expensive for our poor
peoples, and therefore constituted quite a cruel death sentence because the
medecine was right in front of patients but it was just too expensive.
If there is any legislation that Uganda (or African countries) should copy
from India, that would be it. In fact such a law would help boost our
pharmaceutical industries, prevent deaths of our people from manageable
diseases, provide jobs in the industry, and bring in tax revenue that can
be utilized for other critical projects and public services.
BRICS was initially designed to reduce Third World countries' dependence on
World Bank and IMF funding for their development projects. Essentially
BRICS promised to be a new alternative that understood the real needs and
challenges of the Third world. However it shouldn't start the same "smart"
tricks of colonialists who are pretending to help but in reality they are
endebting us further, actually maintaining us in macro-economic poverty as
strictly consumers, and they are serving their own industrial production
through us.
The other truth is that BRICS has been largely maligned and subtly
undermined by leading Western countries and their global financial
institutions because it they see it as competing with their own World Bank
and IMF for the control of Third World countries. However the BRICS
organization appears to be failing to live up to its initial great promises
to the developing world following its launch just a few years ago. While a
South African newspaper states that "the annual summit will focus around
political and socio-economic coordination as well as giving countries a
chance to identify and act on business opportunities and areas of
cooperation", experts might see that as mere talk unless we see actual data
proving the organizations actual development work and achievements. Some
economic affairs pundits in the media are already claiming that BRICS is
turning into an empty tinpot monetary fund. It is up to us in the
developing world to make it work and make it serve our common political and
socio-economic interests.
--
Disclaimer:Everyone posting to this Forum bears the sole responsibility for any legal consequences of his or her postings, and hence statements and facts must be presented responsibly. Your continued membership signifies that you agree to this disclaimer and pledge to abide by our Rules and Guidelines.To unsubscribe from this group, send email to: ugandans-at-heart+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
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