21. We join in the celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and reaffirm our support for working together to strengthen an open, transparent, non-discriminatory, and rules-based multilateral trading system as embodied in the WTO. We welcome Kenya's hosting of the 10th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC10) in Nairobi on 15-18 December 2015.
We stress the centrality of the WTO as the institution that sets multilateral trade rules. We note the importance of bilateral, regional and plurilateral trade agreements and encourage the parties to negotiations thereon to comply with the principles of transparency, inclusiveness and compatibility with WTO rules to ensure that they contribute to strengthening the multilateral trading system.
22. We reaffirm the role of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) as a UN body with a mandate to consider interconnected issues of trade, investment, finance and technologies as related to development. We call on UNCTAD to fulfill its development mandate through more active implementation of technical cooperation programmes and facilitation of policy dialogue, as well as research and capacity-building. We look forward to a successful outcome of UNCTAD XIV.
23. We applaud the progress in the implementation of BRICS Trade and Investment Cooperation Framework. We welcome the Framework for BRICS E-commerce Cooperation as an instrument to promote current and future initiatives with an aim to build a closer economic partnership in this sphere. We instruct our Ministers to continue to explore ways and means in strengthening our cooperation on E-commerce.
We welcome the Initiative on Strengthening IPR Cooperation among the BRICS Countries. We support the efforts aimed at establishing and enhancing the cooperation mechanisms in such areas as SMEs support, trade promotion, sharing experiences on single window projects, inter alia, and direct officials to identify concrete activities in these areas.
24. We acknowledge the potential for expanding the use of our national currencies in transactions between the BRICS countries. We ask the relevant authorities of the BRICS countries to continue discussion on the feasibility of a wider use of national currencies in mutual trade.
25. We will continue our joint efforts aimed at improving competition policy and enforcement.
As important emerging markets and developing countries, BRICS are faced with many similar problems and challenges in terms of economic development and fair competition. It is of significance to strengthen the coordination and cooperation among the BRICS competition agencies.
Considering this, we attach great importance towards developing a mechanism preferably through a joint MoU among the BRICS countries to study the issues of competition with a special focus on socially important economic sectors. The proposed mechanism may facilitate cooperation in competition law and enforcement.
We welcome our relevant agencies' efforts to create conditions for fair competition in pharmaceutical sector.
26. The BRICS countries reaffirm their commitment to participate in the development of international standards of international taxation and cooperation for countering the erosion of tax base and profit shifting, as well as to strengthen mechanisms for ensuring tax transparency and to exchange information for taxation purposes.
We remain deeply concerned about the negative impact of tax evasion, harmful practices, and aggressive tax planning which cause erosion of tax base. Profits should be taxed where the economic activities driving the profits are performed and value is created. We reaffirm our commitment to continue to cooperate in relevant international fora on issues related to the G20/OECD BEPS Action Plan and AEOI. We are engaged in assisting developing countries to strengthen their tax administration capacity, and to promote a deeper engagement of developing countries in the BEPS project and the exchange of tax information. The BRICS countries will share knowledge and best practices in taxation.
27. We reiterate our strong condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and stress that there can be no justification, whatsoever, for any acts of terrorism, whether based upon ideological, religious, political, racial, ethnic, or any other justification.
We are determined to consistently strengthen our cooperation in preventing and countering international terrorism. We stress 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, international refugee and humanitarian law, human rights and fundamental freedoms.
We believe that terrorist threats can be effectively addressed through a comprehensive implementation by states and the international community of all their commitments and obligations arising from all relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council and the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. We call upon all states and the international community to adhere to their commitments and obligations and in this regard to resist political approaches and selective application.
The BRICS countries reaffirm their commitment to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) International Standards on Combating Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism& Proliferation.
We seek to intensify our cooperation in FATF and FATF-style regional bodies (FSRBs).
We recognize that active international collaboration to counter the spread of violent extremism and its ideologies is a necessary prerequisite in the fight against terrorism. At the same time, we underscore that international cooperation on those tracks should rest upon international law taking into consideration that it is the sovereign governments that bear the primary responsibility for preventing and countering violent extremism-related threats.