New Delhi: Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday announced a five-point initiative aimed at boosting cooperation in manufacturing, trade and technology across BRICS member states.
Xi's five-point initiative to enhance BRICS cooperation focuses on establishing an inclusive artificial intelligence framework, facilitating trade and investment, deepening digital industry ties, advancing "intelligent manufacturing," and launching a joint science and technology development initiative.
On Artificial Intelligence
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday announced that China will lead the creation of an open-source AI ecosystem for BRICS member nations as part of a five-point initiative to boost cooperation in technology, manufacturing and trade, even as he called on the bloc to focus on building a large integrated market comprising emerging economies.
Xi's announcement at the concluding session of the BRICS summit is widely seen as an effort to position Beijing as a central technology partner for the BRICS amid the communist state's growing AI competition with the US.
Elaborating on the open-source AI proposal, Xi said: "China will be a pioneer in establishing a BRICS AI open-source community, support cooperation in developing and applying large language models, hold specialised AI seminars and training courses, and build an open ecosystem for AI."
China has partnered with around 30 nations to establish the World AI Cooperation Organisation. Beijing is focusing on establishing a cost-effective international AI ecosystem based on open models, unlike major US developers such as OpenAI and Anthropic, which rely on closed frameworks.
China will be a pioneer in establishing a BRICS-AI open-source community.
On trade and investment
On the trade and investment facilitation initiative, Xi said China proposes to establish a BRICS special economic zone partnership, under which countries can set up an intelligent portal, coordinate policies, and build a new frontier for open development.
On digital ecosystem
The third initiative will be in the domain of the digital industry.
"China will push for establishing a BRICS digital ecosystem cloud platform, and conduct digital skills training, technological exchange and industrial alignment, so as to jointly enable the development of the digital economy," he said.
On manufacturing
The fourth one, Xi said, will be expanded cooperation in "intelligent manufacturing".
"China stands ready to assist fellow BRICS countries in building smart factories and developing standards and norms, and jointly promote manufacturing transformation and upgrading," he said.
On science & technology
The fifth initiative will be in the science and technology domain.
"China proposes to set up a BRICS engineer cultivation alliance for joint development of engineers and mutual recognition of competency standards.
"China will launch a BRICS youth exchange program for scientific and technological innovation, so as to cultivate more high-calibre talent," he said.
Xi also said that China will continue to advance "high-quality" development and implement the Global Development Initiative.
