Preamble
We, the leaders and representatives of the National Congress of the Federative Republic of Brazil, the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China, the Parliament of the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Parliament of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, the Parliament of the Republic of India, the Islamic Consultative Assembly of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa and the Federal National Council of the United Arab Emirates, have convened on 11–12 July 2024 in Saint-Petersburg, the Russian Federation, for the 10th BRICS Parliamentary Forum under the theme: ”Role of Parliaments in Strengthening Multilateralism for Just Global Development and Security.“
We intend to increase legislative support for strengthening the framework of BRICS Strategic Partnership under the three pillars of cooperation – politics and security, economy and finance, cultural and people-to-people exchanges. We reaffirm our commitment to the BRICS spirit featuring mutual respect and understanding, equality, solidarity, openness, inclusiveness, and consensus.
Welcoming the representatives of parliaments of the new BRICS Member States: the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United Arab Emirates, we will facilitate consolidation of the BRICS cooperation through seamless integration of new participants into all formats of BRICS activities in order to strengthen the friendly relations between BRICS countries.
We remain confident that the inter-parliamentary dialogue is playing an important role in progressive development of multilateral cooperation within BRICS.
As lawmakers we intend to facilitate economic growth, exchange of information and innovations, and sustainable development of BRICS countries.
We reaffirm our intention to strengthen and facilitate contacts between the parliaments of BRICS countries at the level of heads of the chambers of parliaments, international affairs or equivalent committees of the chambers of parliaments and groups of parliamentarians, carry out inter-parliamentary exchanges as well as elaborate and develop new mechanisms of inter-parliamentary cooperation and incorporate stages of their implementation in the inter-parliamentary exchange programme.
We are convinced that the peoples we represent in our parliaments shall play a more important role in the development of cooperation between BRICS countries. For this purpose our parliaments attach special priority to the formats, which allow to actively engage the people of our countries in BRICS agenda.
In view of the above, we resolve as follows:
1. We reiterate our commitment to enhancing and improving global governance by promoting a more agile, effective, efficient, responsive, representative, legitimate, democratic and accountable international and multilateral system and to assuring greater and more meaningful participation of developing and least developed countries, especially in Africa, Asia and Latin America, in global decision-making processes and structures, and making them better attuned to contemporary realities.
2. We consider it important to strengthen inter-parliamentary dialogue between the BRICS countries to establish and enhance ties between the chambers of parliaments and their committees, to facilitate, in particular exchanges among young parliamentarians, as well as to contribute to fruitful inter-parliamentary exchanges.
We are adopting the Protocol to the Memorandum of Understanding on the BRICS Parliamentary Forum.
We recognize the need for our parliaments to create special sections of the national parliaments’ websites dedicated to inter-parliamentary relations between the BRICS countries.
3. We reiterate our commitment to multilateralism and upholding the international law, including the Purposes and Principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations (UN) as its indispensable cornerstone, and the central role of the UN in an international system in which sovereign states cooperate to maintain international peace and security, advance sustainable development, ensure the promotion and protection of democracy, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, and promoting cooperation based on solidarity, mutual respect, justice and equality.
4. We reiterate the need for all countries to cooperate in promoting and protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms under the principles of equality and mutual respect. We agree to continue to treat all human rights, including the right to development, in a fair and equal manner, on the same footing and with the same emphasis. We agree to strengthen cooperation on issues of common interests both within BRICS and in multilateral fora including the United Nations General Assembly and Human Rights Council, taking into account the necessity to promote, protect and fulfil human rights in a non-selective, non-politicized and constructive manner and without double standards. We call for the respect of democracy and human rights and underline that they should be implemented on the level of global governance as well as at national level. We reaffirm our commitment to ensuring the promotion and protection of democracy, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all with the aim to build a brighter shared future for the international community based on mutually beneficial cooperation.
5. We express strong condemnation of any acts of terrorism as criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, whenever, wherever and by whomsoever committed. We strongly condemn the inhumane terrorist attack on 22 March 2024 at the Crocus City Hall in Moscow. We reaffirm our commitment to combating terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, including the cross-border terrorism and terrorism financing, and safe havens. We reiterate that terrorism should not be associated with any religion, nationality, civilization or ethnic group and that all those involved in terrorist activities and their support must be held accountable and brought to justice in accordance with international law. We urge to ensure zero tolerance for terrorism and rejected double standards in countering terrorism. We emphasize the primary responsibility of States in combating terrorism and that global efforts to prevent and counter terrorist threats must fully comply with their obligations under international law, including the Charter of the United Nations, in particular the purposes and principles thereof, and relevant international conventions and protocols, in particular international human rights law, international refugee law and international humanitarian law. We welcome the activities of the BRICS Counter-Terrorism Working Group and its five Subgroups based upon the BRICS Counter-Terrorism Strategy and the BRICS Counter-Terrorism Action Plan. We also look forward to further deepening counter-terrorism cooperation. We call for an expeditious finalization and adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism in the UN framework.
6. We express grave concern about increasing threats posed by the rise in illicit production, trafficking and abuse of narcotic drugs and their precursors, especially dangerous synthetic substances with enhanced use of advanced technologies such as dark-net, crypto currencies, social media platforms, encrypted messaging services etc, as well as the use of the proceeds of drug trafficking as one of the sources of terrorist financing.
7. We reaffirm our commitment to the promotion of an open, secure, stable, accessible and peaceful ICT-environment. We underscore the leading role of the United Nations in promoting constructive dialogue to forge common understandings on security of and in the use of ICTs including developing a universal legal framework in this domain. We also acknowledge the need to advance practical intra-BRICS cooperation including through the implementation of the BRICS Roadmap of Practical Cooperation on Ensuring Security in the Use of ICTs and its Progress Report and the activities of the BRICS Working Group on Security in the Use of ICTs. We emphasize the importance of ensuring free flow of and public access to accurate fact-based information, and protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of opinion and expression as well as digital and media literacy in order to allow for meaningful connectivity, in accordance with applicable national and international law.
8. We emphasize the importance of strengthening economic and financial security, achieving national development goals of the BRICS States, and the Strategy for BRICS Economic Partnership 2025. We recall the Johannesburg II Declaration tasking the Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of the BRICS countries to consider the issue of local currencies, payment instruments and platforms and to report back to the BRICS Leaders.
9. We recognize the negative impact on the world economy and sustainable development from unilateral approaches in breach of international law. We express concern about the use of unilateral coercive measures, which are incompatible with the principles of the Charter of the UN and produce negative effects on economic growth, trade, energy, health and food security notably in the developing world.
10. We emphasize importance of the BRICS countries’ energy security, implementation of balanced energy transition based on the effective use of all sources of energy and technologies, in accordance with each country’s national circumstances.
11. We welcome the cooperation between transport agencies of the BRICS countries and the outcomes of the BRICS Transport Ministers meeting held on 6–7 June 2024 in Saint Petersburg. We point out the importance of convergence of approaches to develop efficient and secure international transport corridors for BRICS economic growth. We commit to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all Member States while carrying out transport cooperation.
12. We intend to exchange views, legislative experiences, including best practices, on facilitating science, technology and innovation cooperation of the BRICS countries.
13. We express our support for an open, transparent, fair, inclusive, equitable, non-discriminatory and rules-based multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) at its core, with special and differential treatment (S&DT) for developing countries, including Least Developed Countries as the key foundational principle of the WTO.
14. Through parliamentary diplomacy, we intend to promote greater people-to-people contact, enhancing mutual understanding among BRICS countries and peoples, and facilitating cultural, academic, educational, sports and tourist flows among BRICS countries. We emphasize the importance of intensifying cooperation among educational organizations of BRICS countries in the areas of mutual interest, supporting inter alia initiative to establish BRICS digital education cooperative mechanism, promoting initiatives to organize joint cultural festivals, concerts, arts and craft exhibitions.
15. We congratulate the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on the success in hosting the 10th BRICS Parliamentary Forum and express our gratitude for the hospitality of the Parliament and the people of the Russian Federation. We express our continued support for the Chairship of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation at the 2024 BRICS Parliamentary Forum.
16. We look forward to the BRICS Chairship of the Federative Republic of Brazil in 2025.