BRICS offers new development model for developing countries: Congolese minister

BRICS brings a new development model for developing countries and offers a new form of development and cooperation between states, said Denis Christel Sassou Nguesso, minister of International Cooperation and Promotion of Public-Private Partnership of the Republic of the Congo, on Friday.

The BRICS comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, with the latter five becoming its members in January this year.

"In the BRICS concept as we see today, it is first of all a concept which aims to bring a certain number of developing countries, trying to counterbalance, if I may say, the Western model, the European model and the North American model, through new mechanisms for state development. Today, many countries have already joined. In 2024, for example, we have seen the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Iran and Ethiopia [joined]," said the minister in an interview with the China Central Television (CCTV) ahead of the the 2024 BRICS Summit which will take place in Kazan, Russia, from October 22 to 24.

Many countries have been invited to the Kazan summit, including the president of the Republic of the Congo, said Nguesso.

He said that various countries "see the BRICS initiative as a new diversification of partnership," and they will take this summit as an opportunity to assess if the BRICS mechanism can bring differences to them.

Once the assessment is made, each country will decide for itself whether or not to join, he said.

"The BRICS mechanism, in fact, aims to counterbalance a very old model, which has always been based on Western development mechanisms. And I think that the BRICS' desire today is to bring about a different model. So today, it's up to the BRICS to present the model as it intends to make it available to states, in order to inspire a new form of development and cooperation between states. And it is precisely the initiative of summits such as the one in Kazan, or even the last one held in South Africa, that states will have the very quintessence of what this development mechanism represents. And it's on the basis of this precise assessment that states will be able to decide: What kind of development do they have with the BRICS? What do they want to achieve? And then we'll decide," he said.

BRICS offers new development model for developing countries: Congolese minister

A palm-sized electric vehicle (EV) charger and a customized new energy garbage truck are among the latest cutting-edge products hogging the limelight at the 136th Canton Fair, which concluded its first phase on Saturday in south China's Guangzhou City.

The portable EV charger, developed by U.S. industrial conglomerate Honeywell and applicable to most types of EVs, turned a lot of heads at the event, also known as the China Import and Export Fair.

It can be used even at high-altitude areas and be connected to cell phones.

The charger is now available for purchase on online shopping platforms in the run-up to China's annual "Double 11", or Singles' Day, shopping festival which falls on Nov. 11.

"This is our latest product, and it sells at only 599 yuan during the 'Double 11.' We have raised the portable charger's rate of power to 3.5 kilowatts, and it can fully charge a car in around 10 hours. We are quite surprised to see so many more guests this year, especially those from South America and Eastern Europe, who are interested in new energy chargers. We expect a significant increase of orders this year," said Zhang Shaozhi, an exhibitor at Honeywell's exhibition booth.

Meanwhile, Skyworth, known as an electric appliance producer, is exhibiting its new garbage truck at the new energy vehicle area.

The truck, with a load capacity of 3.2 tonnes, features a driving cab which can be assembled by drivers themselves.

Equipped with a lighter vehicle chassis and noise absorption devices, the truck caters to the needs of environmental protection in South and Central Asian countries.

"The chassis is very light, so it can carry 600 kilograms more than a vehicle of the same class," said an exhibitor at Skyworth's exhibition booth.

The import exhibition at the Phase 1 of the Canton Fair has attracted 213 participating enterprises from 28 countries and regions. So far, the Phase 1 has seen more than 200 new product launch events online and offline.

The 136th Canton Fair opened on Oct. 15 and will run through Nov. 4 in three phases, with the second phase to be held between Oct. 23 and 27, and the third between Oct. 31 to Nov. 4, respectively.

Palm-sized EV charger, customized garbage truck shine at Canton Fair