China and Russia slam 'protectionist bullying'

The annual BRICS summit Wednesday saw Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian equivalent, Vladimir Putin, criticize politically motivated protectionism at a time of a global slowdown.

The leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa also called for increased trade between the countries.

China is currently involved in a trade dispute with the United States and President Xi Jinping told the summit in Brazil: "Protectionist and bullying counter-currents bring shocks to international trade, adding to downward pressure on the world economy."

Read more: Opinion: For Germany, India is a partner with potential

Russian President Vladimir Putin made some gloomy predictions about global growth rates, citing International Monetary Fund forecasts, but said that the BRICS are doing their best to fend off the trend. He also blamed politically motivated protectionism for the downturn.

"The BRICS countries are making considerable contributions to support growth," he said.

"The global economy has been influenced by the wide usage of unfair competition in trade, unilateral sanctions, including those that are politically motivated, and protectionism is flourishing."

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi used the platform to announce his country's plans to be a $5-trillion (€4.55-trillion) economy by 2024, up from $2.6 trillion in 2018.

jsi/rc (Reuters, AP)

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