Compliance with Fortaleza commitments stands at 70 percent

According to a report prepared by the international BRICS Research Group, the compliance rate of the BRICS countries with decisions adopted by the leaders at the 2014 Summit in Fortaleza is 70 percent, which has been the average for the past four years.

The report presents the results of monitoring the implementation of 8 out of 68 decisions recorded in the documents of the 2014 summit. The highest compliance rate was for the Convention on Biological Diversity (100 percent). During the monitoring period, all BRICS countries took actions to protect certain species of living organisms and their habitats, as well as comprehensive measures to address the economic and social aspects of environmental policy.

Almost all of the BRICS countries diligently implemented their commitment to achieve the Millennium Development Goals in the sphere of education (90 percent compliance), as they worked toward universal primary education and the elimination of gender-based inequalities in this sphere.

The efforts of the BRICS countries in the sphere of international anti-corruption cooperation, including collaboration among law enforcement agencies in accordance with the UN Convention against Corruption, were assessed similarly.

Most of the BRICS countries have been taking active measures to implement the UN Counter-Terrorism Strategy (80 percent) in all four key areas identified in this document.

The average compliance rate with decisions related to the reproductive health and rights of citizens was 80 percent. Brazil, Russia and South Africa have met this commitment in full, having taken measures to improve reproductive health and support reproductive rights, which was reflected, among other things, in the absence of restrictions on the number of children in families in these countries.

In accordance with the commitment to expand cooperation on tax base erosion and exchanging information for tax purposes, the BRICS countries have actively worked with the OECD, and began to implement the standards outlined in the Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) in their respective national laws. Most of the BRICS countries have also set deadlines for the automatic exchange of tax information in accordance with OECD standards (60 percent compliance).

According to the monitoring of the level of support for the stabilisation of Afghanistan, the average compliance rate was 60 percent. Almost all of the BRICS countries have provided assistance to Kabul to promote security, socioeconomic development and effective governance in the country.

Reforming the agreement on the rules and procedures for resolving trade disputes under the WTO was the only commitment where no progress was made. Even though international trade has always been a key priority of the forum's agenda, and members of the BRICS have repeatedly expressed their support for the multilateral trading system and the central role of the WTO, they failed to advance the negotiation process or to jumpstart the dialogue on amending the agreement on the rules and procedures for resolving trade disputes during the monitoring period.

The monitoring results show the importance of boosting "the efficiency of the BRICS through improving reporting on implementation of prior commitments by the participating states", as enshrined in the Concept of Russia's BRICS Presidency.

2014 BRICS Fortaleza Summit Compliance Assessment (percent)

	Brazil	Russia	India	China	South Africa	Average
Trade: WTO Dispute Settlement Understanding	0	0	0	0	0	0
Regional security: Afghanistan	0	100	100	100	0	60
Environment	100	100	100	100	100	100
Development: Education-Related MDGs	50	100	100	100	100	90
Financial Regulation: BEPS	50	50	50	100	50	60
Human rights	100	100	50	50	100	80
Terrorism	50	100	100	100	50	80
Crime and corruption	100	100	50	100	100	90
Average	56	81	69	81	63	70

 

2014 BRICS Fortaleza Summit Priority Commitments

Priority area	Commitment
Trade: WTO Dispute Settlement Understanding	We strongly support the WTO dispute settlement system as a cornerstone of the security and predictability of the multilateral trading system and we will enhance our ongoing dialogue on substantive and practical matters relating to it, including in the ongoing negotiations on WTO Dispute Settlement.
Regional Security: Afghanistan	We also reaffirm our commitment to support Afghanistan's emergence as a peaceful, stable and democratic state, free of terrorism and extremism, and underscore the need for more effective regional and international cooperation for the stabilisation of Afghanistan, including by combating terrorism.
Environment	We reiterate our commitment to the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity and its Protocols, with special attention to the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and the Aichi Targets.
Development: Education-Related MDGs	[We reaffirm our commitment to accelerating progress in attaining the] education-related Millennium Development Goals by 2015.
Financial Regulation: BEPS	[We, therefore, affirm our commitment to] enhance cooperation in the international forums targeting tax base erosion and information exchange for tax purposes
Human rights	We reaffirm our determination to ensure sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights for all.
Terrorism	[We believe that the UN has a central role in coordinating international action against terrorism, which must be conducted in accordance with international law, including the UN Charter, and with respect to human rights and fundamental freedoms.] In this context, we reaffirm our commitment to the implementation of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.
Crime and corruption	[We are committed to combat domestic and foreign bribery, and] strengthen international cooperation, including law enforcement cooperation, in accordance with multilaterally established principles and norms, especially the UN Convention Against Corruption.

 

The methodology, scoring system and compliance of the BRICS countries with their decisions are described in more detail in the full English version of the report and an expanded press release in Russian, which you can find on the website of the International Organisations Research Institute (www.iori.hse.ru).

The BRICS Research Group is the leading independent source of information and analysis of cooperation within BRICS. It has prepared reports on compliance with collective commitments in BRICS since the 2011 Sanya Summit. The Russian co-founder of the group is the International Organisations Research Institute of the National Research University - Higher School of Economics.

Official BRICS documents, research papers and reports are published on the institute's website.

In analysing compliance with commitments, the BRICS Research Group relies on open source information, official documents and media reports. To ensure its analysis is thorough and accurate, the group considers comments by various interested parties. Compliance assessments are subject to change if new information becomes available. All feedback will remain anonymous. Please send comments to iori@hse.ru. The authors and analysts of the BRICS Research Group are solely responsible for the contents of the report.