00:00Speaking of BRICS, one of the major achievements today was the unanimously adopted Delhi Declaration.
00:07On trade, for example, BRICS has jointly expressed serious concern over unilateral tariffs and non-tariffs measures
00:14that it says distorts global rules and goes against WTO, a message many see directed at US President Donald Trump,
00:22although he was not explicitly mentioned.
00:24The declaration also came down strongly against unilateral economic sanctions and secondary sanctions.
00:31And then the West Asia War, where without naming the United States or Iran, BRICS expressed deep concern over the
00:37escalation,
00:38called for maximum restraint and once again bagged dialogue and diplomacy.
00:43Israel is named in the declaration, with BRICS calling on Israeli forces to withdraw on Lebanese territories where they remain.
00:50And there was a strong mention also of cross-border terror in the context of what happened in Pehelgaam.
00:57How should we see the BRICS declaration?
00:59Joining me now is Amitabh Khan, former CEO of Niti Aayog.
01:04He was also ex-Sherpa, a member of the G20 when it was held in India a few years ago.
01:09Good to have you, Mr. Khan, on the show.
01:12So, the declaration seems short on specifics.
01:17Or do you believe the very fact that there was some broad consensus should be seen as an achievement?
01:26So, Razdeep, I think it's to the credit of India that we've been able to arrive at a consensus
01:31and come out with strong wording on two specific things to my mind.
01:37One is it condemns unilateral tariff and non-tariff barriers, which have a huge impact on trade.
01:47And it also condemns unilateral coercive measures, including economic and secondary sanctions.
01:55And that, to my mind, is important.
01:58Both these are critical.
02:00They impact Global South in a very big way.
02:02They've particularly impacted India in a very big way.
02:07And all, and probably all emerging markets.
02:10And coming out with this, both these issues sends out the right signal.
02:17You know, you're saying it sends out the right signal, Mr. Khan.
02:21But the fact is that who, it doesn't explicitly mention the United States when it talks about unilateral sanctions,
02:28when it talks about tariffs disrupting world trade.
02:31So, the issues are being flagged, whether it's weaponization of tariffs or sanctions.
02:37But the entire declaration stops short of condemning any specific country or administration,
02:44whether it's responsible for escalating wars or for these trade battles.
02:49So, it seems to be a bit of a compromise, isn't it?
02:55So, normally, in consensus documents across all multilateral negotiations,
03:02countries are not named, but the message is loud and clear.
03:06The message which is coming out of this statement, two specific messages are loud and clear.
03:12One is that American policy on both tariff and sanctions has been highly unpredictable and inconsistent and that it has
03:23had a huge detrimental impact on the global south, number one.
03:26Number two, I think the very strong message which comes out is that multilateral institutions established post-World War II,
03:38you know, during the relative era of peace, that is, United Nations, later the Security Council,
03:45and much later the World Trade Organization have become irrelevant.
03:50They have not served the purpose for which they were designed and that they have definitely not worked to the
03:58advantage of the global south.
04:00They have not served their purpose.
04:01And therefore, it's important either to revitalize them or re-govern them or introduce new institutions.
04:09That's the message which the statement is clearly sending out.
04:13And therefore, to that extent, the first bit of that statement saying that there is consensus on reforming global governance
04:22and global institutions is an important one.
04:25It calls for comprehensive reforms of the UN, including the Security Council.
04:30That means that you're getting Russia and China to say that you need to reform the Security Council by bringing
04:36India, South Africa and Brazil on board of the Security Council.
04:41These are important messages in international multilateral negotiations.
04:48You mentioned there that Russia and China are agreeing to see a remaking, for example, of the Security Council.
04:55But we've been hearing that, Mr. Khan, to be very honest, for years.
04:59There will be those skeptics who will say, is this China in some way using BRICS as a platform to
05:06build an anti-Western alliance
05:07or to at least take leadership, do you believe that there are these concerns over the role China will play
05:14going ahead in BRICS?
05:16Or do you believe these fears from an Indian perspective in particular, given our relations with China,
05:23are they exaggerated these fears of China playing a more domineering role in BRICS?
05:33Well, you know, my view is while I'm talking about unilateral action on sanctions and tariffs on one side of
05:40the United States,
05:41it's important to understand that China weaponizes technology.
05:47While United States today accounts for one third of the fossil fuel in the world,
05:52China, on the other hand, accounts for all the clean technologies.
05:55It controls over 95% of the mineral processed, all the processing technologies.
06:01It controls 90% of the battery technology.
06:08It controls 85% of the solar.
06:10It controls 75% of the wind.
06:12And therefore, all clean technologies today are controlled by China.
06:16It weaponizes them.
06:18It increases the price of cell technology, reduces the price of the battery so that nobody else can manufacture.
06:23So, both these nations must realize.
06:26In fact, it's more important for China, to my mind, that if it wants to play a key role in
06:33this summit,
06:35China needs to open out to ensure that other countries of the BRICS must grow and prosper in partnership.
06:42It has monopolized manufacturing.
06:45It has been able to monopolize manufacturing because it penetrated America.
06:49It was able to do this because America relocated manufacturing in China for the last three decades.
06:56So, China needs to do the same with many other BRICS countries.
06:59If it doesn't do that, they will lose faith in China as well.
07:03Okay, that was Amitabh Khan speaking to me a little earlier on that BRICS declaration.
07:09Okay.
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