The past three days have been fruitful for the BRICS’ five members who have settled on areas of cooperation, including mining, energy, the green economy, pharmaceuticals, agro-processing, service industry, technology and value-added manufacturing development, as outlined by the BRICS Business Council on July 16.
One of the most important results of the BRICS summit held from July 15 to 16 was signing of a deal on the establishment of the New Development Bank (NDB) and the Contingency Reserve Agreement (CRA) that will help emerging economies borrow funds for infrastructure projects.
The primary goal of the reserve currency pool is to create additional financial opportunities and serve as a guarantee during times of unfavorable developments in the global financial markets, said Russian Central Bank head Elvira Nabiullina at the BRICS summit in Brazil.
The CRA is worth over $100 billion, with Russia’s contribution standing at $18 billion. The BRICS countries’ central banks will coordinate the allocation of resources in the pool.
Similarly, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed to create a Reserve Fuel Bank and an energy policy institute to facilitate energy cooperation among BRICS nations. Earlier in May, Russia signed a deal with China to provide it with 38 billion cubic meters of gas per year.
On the military side, Russia and India are deepening their relations, with India receiving an aircraft carrier from Russia. Both sides are looking forward to promote cooperation in other spheres as well, including politics, economy, international affairs and technology, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Russian president both said.
Politically, the BRICS countries also seem to be on the same page, with the leaders of the five member nations calling on conflicting sides in Ukraine to de-escalate the situation and seek for a peaceful solution to the existing problems.
Later, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, BRICS nations called for joint efforts to settle issues, and its members went on to condemn the unilateral approach adopted by Washington, who urged the EU to expand its sanctions on Russia and expressed a readiness to act alone should it refuse.
Goldman Sachs economist Jim O’Neill introduced the term “BRICs” in 2001 in a report on the prospects of growth for the economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China. Since 2006 the countries arranged regular meetings. In 2010, South Africa became the fifth member of the group.
The next BRICS summit will be held in the Russian city of Ufa on July 9-10, 2015.
