In early June Richard Halsey joined the South African delegation to the BRICS Political Parties, Think-tanks and Civil Society Organizations Forum in China. The event was held in Fuzhou on the southeastern coast of the country and was attended by over 400 people in total. The gathering bought together representatives from the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) ahead of the BRICS Summit to be held in September this year. The objective was to have a discussion around how these emerging economies can work together for mutual benefit. It was all about cooperation between nations for a brighter future.

Within the broader scope of cooperation, Project 90 by 2030 joined other civil society voices with inputs on the importance of inter-personal and inter-organisational connections to allow countries to assist each other on common issues. The event was incredibly well organised, and the hospitality was top-notch. However, the programme seemed to be constructed in a way that limited meaningful discussion time on these topics, and relied more on short presentations from each delegate. While good conversations were had outside of the formal events, the lack of rigorous dialogue was a real pity given the effort that was taken to get all these minds together. South Africa will be hosting the next in this series in 2018, and hopefully we can establish a platform that gives more time to grapple with these difficult issues. Furthermore, the focus in Fuzhou remained rooted in conventional framing of economic growth and trade opportunities, when what is really needed is work on alternate development models that benefit people and planet first.