The BRICS Seminar on Governance is held in Quanzhou, East China's Fujian province, Aug 17, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua]

QUANZHOU - More than 100 academics, consultants and business leaders gathered Thursday in East China to brainstorm ideas on governance in emerging markets.

The BRICS Seminar on Governance was held in Fujian province, where the 9th BRICS Summit will take place in about two weeks. Participants come from BRICS members -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- as well as other countries such as Tanzania, Kazakhstan, Chile, Guinea, Ethiopia, and Mexico.

Huang Kunming, executive vice minister of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, which hosted the seminar, said BRICS countries are in similar stages of development, confronted by similar challenges. Sharing experience on governance will help participants learn from one another and improve development.

BRICS members account for about 23 percent of the world economy. They jointly contributed more than half of global growth in 2016. The grouping, based neither on ideology nor geopolitics, is seen as a new and perhaps better form of global governance in which emerging markets play key roles.

But in recent years, BRICS members and other developing countries have encountered difficulties and setbacks. China, though its economic growth has slowed, remains stable and resilient as it moves toward a "moderately prosperous society" by 2020.