Americas News

BRICS leaders agree on economy, finance

Apr 14, 2011, 5:18 GMT

Beijing - Leaders of five major developing nations agreed common positions on the global economy and finance on Thursday, vowing to promote 'robust, sustainable and balanced growth,' Chinese President Hu Jintao said.

The BRICS summit of the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa reached consensus on a range of issues and agreed that the five nations had made a 'positive contribution in promoting global economic recovery,' Hu told reporters after the talks.

Hu, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and South African President Jacob Zuma met in the southern island resort of Sanya.

'We decided to continue strengthening dialogue, coordination and cooperation on global economy, finance and development while deepening exchanges and cooperation in fields such as finance, think tanks, industry and commerce, science and technology, as well as agriculture,' Hu said.

The five nations agreed to expand economic and trade cooperation, and to hold their next leaders' summit in India in 2012, he said.

Hu said reforms of global financial institutions to increase representation by developing would be 'conducive to world peace and common prosperity.'

'We should set up a a just and equitable international free trade system, oppose protectionism in all its forms, strengthen the multilateral trading regime and push for early attainment of the goals of a development round at the Doha Round negotiations,' the official Xinhua news agency quoted Hu as saying in a speech at the summit.

Inequitable development was the 'most fundamental problem in the world economy,' he said.

The BRICS leaders were also expected to approve an inter-bank agreement to allow the five nations to offer credit or grants to each other in their own currencies instead of US dollars.

Brazil, Russia, India and China have held two previous leaders' summits, while South Africa is attending its first summit after officially joining the group in December.

'We are upbeat. Africa is moving away from the margins, we are playing our role among powerful emerging economies,' Zuma said on Wednesday.

The five nations accounted for about 18 per cent of global gross domestic product and 15 per cent of trade last year. They have about 42 per cent of the world's population.

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