BRICS Summit Focises On New Development Bank

NEW DELHI, March 29 (Bernama) – The BRICS countries have agreed to examine in greater detail a proposal to set up a BRICS-led South-South Development Bank, funded and managed by the BRICS and other developing countries, India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Thursday. BRICS comprises five major emerging economies of the world – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. He said to revive global demand and growth, developing countries need access to capital, particularly for infrastructure development. “We must address the important issue of expanding the capital base of the World Bank and other Multilateral Development Banks to enable these institutions to perform their appropriate roles in financing infrastructure development,” he said in his address at the Plenary Session of the Fourth BRICS Summit here. Chinese president Hu Jintao is here to partake in the Summit. Manmohan also said that the BRICS countries should also cooperate closely to breathe life into the Doha Development Round, look for innovative solutions to overcome barriers that have stalled progress of the multilateral trade negotiations. As large and diverse economies, the five countries should make a special effort to find ways to exploit intra-BRICS complementarities, he said. “We should promote greater interaction amongst our business communities. Issues such as easier business visas must be prioritised. As large trading countries, BRICS have a strong interest in removing barriers to trade and investment flows and avoiding protectionist measures,” he added. BRICS accounts for 26 per cent of the world's landmass and 42 per cent of global population, including India and China, two of the world's most populous countries. The group accounts for 40 per cent of global gross domestic product (US$18.486 trillion) and its proportion is rapidly increasing. Goldman Sachs predicted that "BRIC can become collectively bigger than the Group of Seven (the top industrial powers) by 2035. Intra-BRICS trade is growing at an average of 28 per cent annually and currently stood at about US$230 billion. -- BERNAMA