BRICS agree to joint work on ‘Fourth Revolution’, cryptocurrencies
July 27, 2018, 8:22 am

In order to deal with new technologies like AI and cryptocurrencies, BRICS nations must work together, Ramaphosa, center, said [PPIO]

BRICS countries are being urged to embrace the rapidly developing technologies which have carved a fourth industrial revolution but to do so in a fully collaborative approach.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa says that while this digital revolution is the next threshold for BRICS countries, they should work together to ensure that emerging economies have a level playing field.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is considered the fourth technological leap for mankind since the 18th century, and encompasses digital technologies as well as nanotechnology, biotechnology, robotics, artificial intelligence, and others.

Brazilian President Michel Temer believes that revamping the education sector is vital to meet the demands presented by the digitization development.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the idea and said his country was educating and providing vocational training to it’s work force in order to prepare youth for the challenges of this revolution.

But he warned that with each step through the digital barrier, issues of cyber security would become more profound and require a concerted effort from BRICS to deal with.

Still, people-to-people exchanges are also necessary in this vein, said Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Culture should not be left behind.

“When it comes to people and cultural exchanges, there is a lot that we can do together … and we should aim more on people to people connectivity in culture, sport, tourism and other areas,” said Xi.

These exchanges would strengthen the sense of BRICS citizenry.

In the meantime, major banks from BRICS countries have agreed to work together to study how innovative technologies such as cryptocurrencies and blockchain can be applied in the infrastructure finance sector.

The State Corporation Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs (Vnesheconombank), the Brazilian National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES), the Export-Import Bank of India, the China Development Bank, and the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) signed an MoU on the development of distributed ledger technology (DLT) Thursday.

The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies