Trade union federation, Cosatu, has attended the third BRICS trade union forum, held on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Brazil. The delegation, led by General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi, 2nd Deputy President Zingiswa Losi and ten affiliated union leaders, joined representatives of Brazil, Russia, India and China.

The forum was expected to adopt a comprehensive programme to take forward the Moscow and Durban Declarations. Vavi says the forum aims to unite the biggest trade unions to ensure economic growth in all the countries.

Vavi said, “It is holding a potential to effect the world balance forces in economic terms by ensuring that emerging economies in the world can counter the over increasing dominance of an economy by the developed nations by ensuring that there is development in the south. We of course take into consideration the workers situation in all these economies.”

Meanwhile, on Friday, the Chinese Consul General in Shanghai, China says it welcomes the decision to have the BRICS Development Bank located in Shanghai, though South Africa had high hopes of getting the bank situated locally.

Consul General of South Africa in Shanghai, Thabo Thage, says South Africa welcomes the decision and doesn’t see it as a loss for the country. 

BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) announced this week that its New Developmental Bank, aimed at addressing developmental gaps and infrastructural gaps, will be located in Shanghai China and the Regional Centre of the Bank in Johannesburg, South Africa.

“We regard the location of the bank as one part of a bigger role includes the focus that BRICS leadership collective has so coherently, so clearly stated in terms of Africa as one of their focal point for development. So that for us is an important outcome and not just the location of the bank,” says Thage.

Thage was speaking to the SABC in China shortly after the announcement. “You will recall that one of the outcomes of this summit that is concluding now in Brazil is affording South Africa an opportunity to host in Johannesburg a regional bank whose focus is going to be in Africa.”

“So there is no loss at all because we consider ourselves as South Africans to be part of the BRICS collective,” continues Thage.

He South Africa continues to deepen and expand bilateral relations with China and it stand to benefit regardless of where the bank is located. “There’s no better moment than now… to see the birth of this historic moment- to see the birth of a development bank that is going to based here in Shanghai,” says Thage.

The bank is expected to have an “initial authorized capital of US$100 Billion with an initial subscribed capital of US$50 Billion “equally shared among funding members,” according to the statement released by BRICS.

“The arrangement will have a positive precautionary effect, help countries forestall short term liquidity pressures, promote further BRICS cooperation, strengthen the global financial safety net and complement existing bank governers,” notes BRICS.

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Background

The Congress of South African Trade Unions is attending the 3rd BRICS Trade Union Forum which is held on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit on 15th and 16th July, in the Island of Fortaleza, Brazil.

Led by General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi, 2nd Deputy President Zingiswa Losi and 10 affiliated union leaders and staff members, the delegation joins representatives from unions in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Hosted by trade union federations, CUT, CGTB, CTB and UGT, the forum is expected to adopt a comprehensive programme to take forward the Moscow and Durban Declarations.

BRICS is an acronym for an association of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. It was originally known as BRIC, before South Africa became a member in 2010.

The first full-scale diplomatic meeting was held in Yekaterinburg, Russia on the 16th May, 2008 after an initial meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the four BRIC states in New York City, September 2006, which laid the basis of an on-going coordination and holding of a series of high-level meetings.

In 2013, it is estimated that the five BRICS Countries represent almost 3 billion people with a combined nominal GDP of US$16.039 trillion and an estimated US$4 trillion in combined foreign reserves. Currently, the Chairperson of BRICS is South Africa, having hosted the fifth summit in 2013, eThekwini.

The following are the economic rankings of the individual BRICS countries;

1. China – is the second biggest economy in the world

2. India – is the fourth largest economy in terms of GDP at Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) and is the 10th largest economy in GDP in nominal terms

3. Brazil – is the world’s sixth largest economy

4. Russia – is the ninth biggest economy in the world

5. South Africa – is the 26th largest economy in the world

The BRICS trade Union Forum was initiated by trade unions from the BRICS countries after several consultative meetings, including a meeting held on the sidelines of the ILO Conference in Geneva in 2012.

This was then followed by the first meeting of the Forum held in Moscow, Russia, in December 2013 where the Moscow Declaration was adopted.

It was followed by the 2nd BRICS Trade Union Forum which was held in Durban, South Africa in March, 2013 and adopted the 2nd BRICS Trade Union Forum Declaration, entitled, Towards a Progressive BRICS Trade Union Forum.

The 3rd leg of the BRICS Trade Union Forum, now called the BRICS Labour Forum is being held in Brazil in the island of Fortaleza (Portuguese for Fortress) on 14-17th July, 2014.

The biggest issues for COSATU in the BRICS Labour Forum are;

• The inclusion of Labour in the BRICS Official processes to ensure we advance workers interests and contribute in shaping the future BRICS political economy landscape favourably towards equitable, sustainable and just development

• To advance the interests of South African workers in the context of the broad working class struggle, particularly to ensure that BRICS take into regard the interests of African workers and the issues facing the continent as a whole for decent work, job creation, industrialisation and sustainable development

• To safeguard the interests of the South African economy, particularly as regards trade, industrial and manufacturing capacity and job creation issues are concerned

• To safeguard a general working class or progressive component in all institutions, structures and processes of BRICS to ensure that it doesn’t become an exclusive forum for the rich and powerful in the broader international sphere

• To ensure that BRICS plays a critical role in changing the unjust global political economy and world order towards serving the needs of humanity as a whole

• Laying the foundation and building blocks for better coordination and cooperation amongst trade unions in the BRICS community, for consistent and sustainable engagement on issues of common interest.

• To identify issues of immediate and practical interest to the BRICS Trade Union Community to pick up the momentum and create sustainable basis for on-going engagement.