New global geographies of power are re-shaping our world. India, Brazil and South Africa, three democratic, multi-ethnic emerging countries, created IBSA to deepen their ties and bring their voice together on the international stage.
IPS news agency has established an independent news portal, ibsanews.com, to curate the best reporting from and about IBSA and its members.
The site, available in English and in Portuguese, offers a unique window on how IPS news agency and the media of India, Brazil and South Africa are reporting issues like trade, diplomacy, environment and energy through an IBSA and South-South lens.
Does IBSA support the Libyan intervention? How are Indian doctors and teachers sharing their expertise with Africans through video-conferencing? Is Brazil re-discovering trade routes to the Indies? Will South African efforts to create free-trade zones in Africa be an effective gateway for South-South trade? BRICs, IBSA or the G20 ? Can Brazilian agriculture help to close the global hunger gap?
IPS news agency is convinced of the need for new South-South information channels that link societies and citizens. As part of this overall perspective, IPS has developed editorial, capacity-building and networking initiatives linked to the IBSA grouping.
In April 2010 IPS was privileged to host the IBSA Editors Forum in Brazilia, which brought together leading media personalities from the three countries. Recommendations about strengthening communication channels between India, Brazil and South Africa were presented to Presidents Zuma and Da Silva, and Prime Minister Singh.
The creation of this IBSA news and media portal ibsanews.com was one of the recommendations of the 2010 Editors Forum. Through communication bridges like this, the impetus and understanding of what IBSA can mean and represent moves beyond the political elite and the corporate sector, to involve citizens. Because IBSA has been created amongst some of the world‚s largest democracies, which share values and openness, this is an achievable goal.
Support for this independent news portal has come from the World Bank (Latin America and Caribbean), which along with the Government of Brazil supported the IBSA Editors Forum 2010. The Government of Brazil is the current chair of the IPS Core group of donors.
