BRICS nations urge ‘restraint’ in Middle East, smooth flow of global trade

Al Jazeera:

The BRICS group ⁠of nations has unanimously ⁠adopted a joint declaration, calling for calm in the Middle East and stressing the need to work together to maintain the smooth flow of global trade, supply chains and energy.

The summit launched on Saturday in New Delhi, with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosting the two-day meeting. China’s President Xi Jinping, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian are among those attending.

The presidency of the 11-member bloc has passed to New Delhi at a difficult moment, with wars in the Middle East and Ukraine disrupting energy and shipping, tariffs squeezing members, and BRICS countries at odds over how to answer either challenge.

Saturday’s declaration voiced “deep concern over the continued escalation of tensions” across the Middle East, calling for “maximum restraint” and warning against deliberate attacks on civilian infrastructure and on nuclear facilities, in particular.

It reiterated the bloc’s position on Palestine, expressing “firm opposition” to the forced displacement of Palestinians, and changing the geography or demography of the occupied territory.

It also called for an end to Israeli violence in Gaza, support for the UNRWA and full United Nations membership for Palestine.

Expansion of non-Western cross-border payment channels, cooperation on artificial intelligence and opposition to unilateral sanctions and tariffs are also subjects of the wide-ranging declaration.

President Xi arrived in the Indian capital on Saturday morning, his first visit to the country in seven years as the two Asian giants seek to thaw relations.

He said the fighting in the Middle East did not serve the world’s interests. “As the situation in the Middle East and the Gulf region continues to evolve, the war there has caused serious losses to people across the region,” China’s Xinhua quoted Xi as saying.

It “does not serve the common interests of the international community”, Xi said.