The Russia Centre of Science and Culture (RCSC) jointly with the BRICS International Forum (BRICS-IF) in India is organized a three-day international conference titled ‘BRICS – Evolution from Acronym to Global Power’ which started on January 27, 2016 in the framework of the BRICS Summit, held in Ufa in July 2015. With the participation of 70 delegates, representing the member states of the BRICS grouping, the conference is a curtain-raiser as India takes on the Presidency of BRICS from February 15, 2016. Various youth organizations like Global Youth, World Organization of Students & Youth, Yuva Kranti and the Nehru Yuva Kendra showed willingness to partner with BRICS International Forum and promote BRICS awareness and activities among the youth bloc.
Mrs Purnima Anand, President, BRICS International Forum & International Federation of Indo Russian Youth Clubs. welcoming the elite gathering spoke of the opportunities among BRICS countries, highlighting the relationship between India and Russia. She noted that the conference was the platform that would enable experts who are active on the social media like Facebook and WhatsApp to discuss and share their practical knowledge on BRICS issues. She hoped that the participants would acquire new skills and knowledge while encouraging all to participate on the engaging debates and discussions.
Mr Arseny Starkov, Senior Consultant, Information & Culture, Russian Centre of Science and Culture welcomed the honorable guest with flowers and souvenirs.
Guest of Honor Mr. Sergey V. Karmalito, Senior Councellor, Embassy of the Russian Federation in India, in his address, congratulated every one of his Indian colleagues on the 67th Republic Day of India. Looking towards the future with great expectations for 2016, he hoped for the BRICS community to organize better events under Indian presidency. He appreciated the idea of conducting this event at the beginning of the year looking ahead to BRICS summit which is scheduled ahead this year. He spoke about celebrating the strong bonds among the BRICS nations and made points about making it more perceptive and hopeful. According to Mr. Sergey, this was a special year for India and Russia, and was gratified on Mr. Modi’s visit to Russia last year, when he was part of the Victory Day celebration. He hoped that under India’s leadership BRICS initiatives would thrive. He expressed high hopes on future Russia-India summit when many important documents would be signed.
Guest of Honor Mr. Nandan Unnikrishnan, Vice President, Observer Research Foundation, congratulated the Russian colleagues for successfully conducting the summits in Ufa, and other events in the past year. He expressed how he felt that Russia had very successfully guided the organization and given it great momentum in the past year by its innovative initiatives. He discussed the development of the BRICS ‘Think Tank Foundation’, which has developed and which discussed research issues for future summits. He felt that India would have to fill in big shoes after Russia had done a great job during their presidency. According to him, BRICS is a collection of shared aspirations. BRICS is indeed much more than an acronym as the title of the conference most aptly suggests, Mr. Unnikrishnan noted. He mentioned how BRICS was not only an investment destination but also a collection of common aspirations that wished to change the global rules which have been governing us such as the Bretton Woods system, and the like. BRICS, according to him, promotes a world where new powers have emerged and they are challenging the existing powers and their hegemony. BRICS supports aspirations such as need for India and Brazil to get a seat in UNSC and bring about evolution of IMF voting norms making it more transparent and democratic. He said his organization, the Observer Research Foundation, which has lots of plans for 2016 under the Indian Presidency. He mentioned how his foundation has been planning for a large international conference, BRICS young scholars meeting, BRICS digital conference, and the like. He also talked about how even Government of India was planning a BRICS health conference to promote the importance of Yoga. “BRICS is a very real and practical organization on which aspirations of almost half of humanity rests. BRICS, unlike other organizations, is not directed against anyone, its agenda is positive and it looks to promote aspirations of the oppressed, and these are the main reasons why it will succeed”, Mr. Unnikrishnan concluded.
Guest of Honor Mr. E.R. Reddy, Chairman, Arvindo Foundation, came all the way from Telangana to participate in the conference. Significantly, Telangana is the first state which will receive financial support from BRICS New Development Bank under Urban Development. Mr. Reddy explained how BRICS formed an aspiration for those people to come together who felt deprived from opportunities under colonialism. He pointed out how BRICS has been developing and evolving at a very fast pace. He talked about how it is our responsibility to provide a platform and facilitate the bringing together of new ideas and exchange best practices and culture. He reminisced how India has been looked at for counselling and guidance over the ages and how India commanded respect and needed to keep up the name as the mother of all cultures. He felt the major aim of BRICS should be to build people-to-people contact and share knowledge and practices and cultures. He was emphatic on the need to facilitate language learning for people-to-people contact. More people’s interaction, greater fellowships and more opportunities to bring people together are needed to build better interaction within BRICS. He suggested that there was need to utilize the platforms such as Digital India and combine it with ideas like BRICS University for developmental impetus in the positive direction. According to him, BRICS has a bright future.
Guest of Honor Mr. Roman N. Babushkin, First Secretary (Political), Embassy of Russian Federation in India, emphasized how the major aim was to raise awareness of BRICS among young people. He explained how BRICS’ agenda was to promote a multi-polar world and other multi-lateral cooperation. He pointed out that under Russian Presidency, BRICS had promoted common interests and unity within the countries. He brought out how BRIC countries share common interests in cyber security, terrorism, drug trade etc. He mentioned how BRICS works in the framework of G-20 and looks majorly to promote sustainable development. He announced how under the Russian presidency BRICS had held around 100 events and worked actively towards achieving the Ufa declaration and its envisioned principles. He felt the need to bring Indian and Russian vision together while passing the baton of presidency, and stressed on the need for continuation of ideas in all fields and initiatives started by Russia during the upcoming Indian presidency. He recommended promoting BRICS University and Inter-city and inter-regional cooperation. He felt that it was very important to discuss Capital City cooperation as an important agenda. Mr. Babuskin said BRICS is important for international affairs. He said BRICS was an integrated institution for mutual interests, adding that there were no leaders and no subordinates in BRICS. In his vision, there are united natural partners in BRICS. “One of the BRICS’s major roles will be providing international peace and security, and it will work aligning with international laws with a synchronised approach. And that they will work together in fields like drugs, international terrorism, information, security, cyber security and space, etc”, concluded Mr Roman N. Babushkin.
Guest of Honour Prof.Sanjay Kumar Pandey, Chairperson, Centre for Russian and Central Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, delightful of seeing young people increasingly interested in BRICS, pointed out that. BRICS was a culmination to attempt in evolving an alternative world view from other existing great powers. Different countries, he explained, have different environments and requirements and BRICS countries emphasized that institutions constituted after World War II needed to change their working as the world had moved on from those conditions. BRICS has been in recent times a successful attempt to talk about alternatives and organizing the world in a different way. He pointed out how BRICS emphasized always that global institutions needed to work differently and work in a more democratic way. An initiative such as the New Development Bank provided such alternatives and unlike the World Bank charted a new course, he added. Capital city cooperation among BRICS looks to bring about cooperation on common problems of people in those cities such as Pollution. He talked of how people need to pool in their efforts to face common challenges; he discussed issues of the oppressed and deprived people facing problems of poverty, etc., and how these were the contemporary issues of collaboration. BRICS is still an evolving institution. BRICS is very much a political forum and discusses all major global issues and takes common approaches while dealing with contentious issues, concluded Prof Pandey.
Young Speaker Mr. Alex Wang, who was invited to speak on his experiences as a post-graduate student from the Jawaharlal Nehru University under the title “Eliminate the prejudice and enhance mutual understanding”. He realized many perceptions about his country that has been painted on his fellow Indian students. He defended his choice to study in India as India provided a high quality English medium education and a lower living costs along with the best of the teaching facility. Secondly, he believed that India promotes non-violence and tolerance in a sea of cultural and religion diversities which he feels lacks in many Asian societies. He believed that India and China could draw more responsibility for the human race under the complementary effect from “world’s factory” and “world office”.
The young representative Ms. Sharanya Rajiv, mentioned how the idea of all the youth organizations joining hands for a common cause to promote BRICS awareness was to provide a hub for youth to know about foreign policy. She mentioned that BRICS covered over 45 per cent of world’s youth population, and which was why governments should take more initiatives to create a path to actualisation of BRICS as a global power. She also suggested that it is the youth who will ensure the sustainability of the agendas and projects for the coming future.
The conference was aimed at bringing together leaders, policy makers and experts on a single platform to discuss the prospects of BRICS Empowerment. The Chief Guest of the conference Shri Rajiv Yadav, Secretary, Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, Department of Sports, Government of India, was unable to present at the conference due to emergency meeting at Prime Minister Office, but he conveyed his blessings. He congratulated the forum for their initiative and he envisions the conference to be a platform for stakeholders to discuss the developments, achievements, actions and proposals under the Russian Presidency. The turnover of Presidency comes at a critical time as there are great expectations from India.
There was a Puppet Show following the official part of the conference organized by the members of Enactus, Shri Ram College of Commerce.
The second day of conference is being conducted at the Haryana Bhawan conference room where all the delegates are presenting their papers to a panel of experts. On the concluding day, the delegates visited Parliament Museum to understand the Parliamentary system of India from historical days to current times.
The session includes need of BRICS Capital City Cooperation between Brasilia, Moscow, New Delhi, Beijing and Pretoria, BRICS Stand against Terrorism, Business opportunities within BRICS Counties and Future Projects to accelerate BRICS developments.
Mrs Purnima Anand, President, BRICS International Forum & International Federation of Indo Russian Youth Clubs. welcoming the elite gathering spoke of the opportunities among BRICS countries, highlighting the relationship between India and Russia. She noted that the conference was the platform that would enable experts who are active on the social media like Facebook and WhatsApp to discuss and share their practical knowledge on BRICS issues. She hoped that the participants would acquire new skills and knowledge while encouraging all to participate on the engaging debates and discussions.
Mr Arseny Starkov, Senior Consultant, Information & Culture, Russian Centre of Science and Culture welcomed the honorable guest with flowers and souvenirs.
Guest of Honor Mr. Sergey V. Karmalito, Senior Councellor, Embassy of the Russian Federation in India, in his address, congratulated every one of his Indian colleagues on the 67th Republic Day of India. Looking towards the future with great expectations for 2016, he hoped for the BRICS community to organize better events under Indian presidency. He appreciated the idea of conducting this event at the beginning of the year looking ahead to BRICS summit which is scheduled ahead this year. He spoke about celebrating the strong bonds among the BRICS nations and made points about making it more perceptive and hopeful. According to Mr. Sergey, this was a special year for India and Russia, and was gratified on Mr. Modi’s visit to Russia last year, when he was part of the Victory Day celebration. He hoped that under India’s leadership BRICS initiatives would thrive. He expressed high hopes on future Russia-India summit when many important documents would be signed.
Guest of Honor Mr. Nandan Unnikrishnan, Vice President, Observer Research Foundation, congratulated the Russian colleagues for successfully conducting the summits in Ufa, and other events in the past year. He expressed how he felt that Russia had very successfully guided the organization and given it great momentum in the past year by its innovative initiatives. He discussed the development of the BRICS ‘Think Tank Foundation’, which has developed and which discussed research issues for future summits. He felt that India would have to fill in big shoes after Russia had done a great job during their presidency. According to him, BRICS is a collection of shared aspirations. BRICS is indeed much more than an acronym as the title of the conference most aptly suggests, Mr. Unnikrishnan noted. He mentioned how BRICS was not only an investment destination but also a collection of common aspirations that wished to change the global rules which have been governing us such as the Bretton Woods system, and the like. BRICS, according to him, promotes a world where new powers have emerged and they are challenging the existing powers and their hegemony. BRICS supports aspirations such as need for India and Brazil to get a seat in UNSC and bring about evolution of IMF voting norms making it more transparent and democratic. He said his organization, the Observer Research Foundation, which has lots of plans for 2016 under the Indian Presidency. He mentioned how his foundation has been planning for a large international conference, BRICS young scholars meeting, BRICS digital conference, and the like. He also talked about how even Government of India was planning a BRICS health conference to promote the importance of Yoga. “BRICS is a very real and practical organization on which aspirations of almost half of humanity rests. BRICS, unlike other organizations, is not directed against anyone, its agenda is positive and it looks to promote aspirations of the oppressed, and these are the main reasons why it will succeed”, Mr. Unnikrishnan concluded.
Guest of Honor Mr. E.R. Reddy, Chairman, Arvindo Foundation, came all the way from Telangana to participate in the conference. Significantly, Telangana is the first state which will receive financial support from BRICS New Development Bank under Urban Development. Mr. Reddy explained how BRICS formed an aspiration for those people to come together who felt deprived from opportunities under colonialism. He pointed out how BRICS has been developing and evolving at a very fast pace. He talked about how it is our responsibility to provide a platform and facilitate the bringing together of new ideas and exchange best practices and culture. He reminisced how India has been looked at for counselling and guidance over the ages and how India commanded respect and needed to keep up the name as the mother of all cultures. He felt the major aim of BRICS should be to build people-to-people contact and share knowledge and practices and cultures. He was emphatic on the need to facilitate language learning for people-to-people contact. More people’s interaction, greater fellowships and more opportunities to bring people together are needed to build better interaction within BRICS. He suggested that there was need to utilize the platforms such as Digital India and combine it with ideas like BRICS University for developmental impetus in the positive direction. According to him, BRICS has a bright future.
Guest of Honor Mr. Roman N. Babushkin, First Secretary (Political), Embassy of Russian Federation in India, emphasized how the major aim was to raise awareness of BRICS among young people. He explained how BRICS’ agenda was to promote a multi-polar world and other multi-lateral cooperation. He pointed out that under Russian Presidency, BRICS had promoted common interests and unity within the countries. He brought out how BRIC countries share common interests in cyber security, terrorism, drug trade etc. He mentioned how BRICS works in the framework of G-20 and looks majorly to promote sustainable development. He announced how under the Russian presidency BRICS had held around 100 events and worked actively towards achieving the Ufa declaration and its envisioned principles. He felt the need to bring Indian and Russian vision together while passing the baton of presidency, and stressed on the need for continuation of ideas in all fields and initiatives started by Russia during the upcoming Indian presidency. He recommended promoting BRICS University and Inter-city and inter-regional cooperation. He felt that it was very important to discuss Capital City cooperation as an important agenda. Mr. Babuskin said BRICS is important for international affairs. He said BRICS was an integrated institution for mutual interests, adding that there were no leaders and no subordinates in BRICS. In his vision, there are united natural partners in BRICS. “One of the BRICS’s major roles will be providing international peace and security, and it will work aligning with international laws with a synchronised approach. And that they will work together in fields like drugs, international terrorism, information, security, cyber security and space, etc”, concluded Mr Roman N. Babushkin.
Guest of Honour Prof.Sanjay Kumar Pandey, Chairperson, Centre for Russian and Central Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, delightful of seeing young people increasingly interested in BRICS, pointed out that. BRICS was a culmination to attempt in evolving an alternative world view from other existing great powers. Different countries, he explained, have different environments and requirements and BRICS countries emphasized that institutions constituted after World War II needed to change their working as the world had moved on from those conditions. BRICS has been in recent times a successful attempt to talk about alternatives and organizing the world in a different way. He pointed out how BRICS emphasized always that global institutions needed to work differently and work in a more democratic way. An initiative such as the New Development Bank provided such alternatives and unlike the World Bank charted a new course, he added. Capital city cooperation among BRICS looks to bring about cooperation on common problems of people in those cities such as Pollution. He talked of how people need to pool in their efforts to face common challenges; he discussed issues of the oppressed and deprived people facing problems of poverty, etc., and how these were the contemporary issues of collaboration. BRICS is still an evolving institution. BRICS is very much a political forum and discusses all major global issues and takes common approaches while dealing with contentious issues, concluded Prof Pandey.
Young Speaker Mr. Alex Wang, who was invited to speak on his experiences as a post-graduate student from the Jawaharlal Nehru University under the title “Eliminate the prejudice and enhance mutual understanding”. He realized many perceptions about his country that has been painted on his fellow Indian students. He defended his choice to study in India as India provided a high quality English medium education and a lower living costs along with the best of the teaching facility. Secondly, he believed that India promotes non-violence and tolerance in a sea of cultural and religion diversities which he feels lacks in many Asian societies. He believed that India and China could draw more responsibility for the human race under the complementary effect from “world’s factory” and “world office”.
The young representative Ms. Sharanya Rajiv, mentioned how the idea of all the youth organizations joining hands for a common cause to promote BRICS awareness was to provide a hub for youth to know about foreign policy. She mentioned that BRICS covered over 45 per cent of world’s youth population, and which was why governments should take more initiatives to create a path to actualisation of BRICS as a global power. She also suggested that it is the youth who will ensure the sustainability of the agendas and projects for the coming future.
The conference was aimed at bringing together leaders, policy makers and experts on a single platform to discuss the prospects of BRICS Empowerment. The Chief Guest of the conference Shri Rajiv Yadav, Secretary, Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, Department of Sports, Government of India, was unable to present at the conference due to emergency meeting at Prime Minister Office, but he conveyed his blessings. He congratulated the forum for their initiative and he envisions the conference to be a platform for stakeholders to discuss the developments, achievements, actions and proposals under the Russian Presidency. The turnover of Presidency comes at a critical time as there are great expectations from India.
There was a Puppet Show following the official part of the conference organized by the members of Enactus, Shri Ram College of Commerce.
The second day of conference is being conducted at the Haryana Bhawan conference room where all the delegates are presenting their papers to a panel of experts. On the concluding day, the delegates visited Parliament Museum to understand the Parliamentary system of India from historical days to current times.
The session includes need of BRICS Capital City Cooperation between Brasilia, Moscow, New Delhi, Beijing and Pretoria, BRICS Stand against Terrorism, Business opportunities within BRICS Counties and Future Projects to accelerate BRICS developments.
Download Conference report
