Two days BRICS Women’s Parliamentarian Forum held in Jaipur

The two-day meeting of the BRICS Women’s Parliamentarian Forum was begun in Jaipur on August 20, in which 42 delegates from member countries participated.

About BRICS :

BRICS is the acronym for an association of five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Originally the first four were grouped as “BRIC” before the controversial addition of South Africa in 2010.

• The BRICS members are all leading developing or newly industrialized countries, but they are distinguished by their large, sometimes fast-growing economies and significant influence on regional affairs; all five are G-20 members.
•  However, BRICS countries have significantly slowed down with South Africa only growing 1% in 2015 similar to the 1.6% a year from 1994 to 2009, Brazil in its worst recession since the 1930s by some measures, Russia in a recession as oil prices tailspin and sanctions weigh, and China’s slowdown is set to be a drag on global growth and is reported to be the slowest in the last 25 years.
•  Since 2009, the BRICS nations have met annually at formal summits. Russia hosted the group’s seventh summit in July 2015. India is going to host the BRICS conference in Goa in 2016. The term does not include countries such as South Korea, Mexico and Turkey for which other acronyms and group associations were later created.
• As of 2015, the five BRICS countries represent over 3 billion people, or 42% of the world population; all five members are in thetop 25 of the world by population, and four are in the top 10.
• The five nations have a combined nominal GDP of US$16.039 trillion, equivalent to approximately 20% of the gross world product, and an estimated US$4 trillion in combined foreign reserves.
• The BRICS have received both praise and criticism from numerous commentators. Bilateral relations among BRICS nations have mainly been conducted on the basis of non-interference, equality, and mutual benefit.

Women’s parliamentarian Forum :-

A total of 42 delegates from the BRICS countries are attending the meeting which will have different plenary sessions on August 20 and 21.

• There will be five women parliamentarians from Brazil, three from Russia, 28 from India, two from China and four from South Africa.
• Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan inaugurated the BRICS Women’s Parliamentarian Forum.
• This forum helped to have one voice as women Parliamentarians to organise, mobilise, motivate and advance women.
• Total 43 Parliamentarians from BRICS countries including 28 MPs from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, are participating in the meeting where sustainable development goals are being discussed.
• Mahajan’s inaugural session will be followed by plenary session on the theme of ‘Perspectives on implementation of SDGs’ at the Rajasthan Vidhan sabha.
• First session on the theme of ‘Achieving SDGs- Role of Women Parliamentarians in involving Citizens‘.
• Theme of the second session, to be held on the second day on August 21, will be ‘Containing Climate Change – Imperatives of Global Cooperation’.

Adoption of Jaipur Declaration:-

• The BRICS nations’ women parliamentarian forum adopted the Jaipur declaration calling upon international financial institutions to “support and facilitate financing for development on favorable terms” to developing and least developed countries.
• This meet emphasized on sustainable development goals in five nations by 2030, besides working on climate change
• It also called upon international financial institutions to support and facilitate financing for development on favorable terms for the developing and the least developed countries, and to help them gain easier access to new and affordable technologies for capacity building, as envisaged under the UN-Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement.