BRICS leaders arrive in Goa for annual summit
October 15, 2016, 6:26 am

Russian President Vladimir Putin lands in Dabolim, Goa, India for the 8th BRICS Summit on 15 October 2016 [Image: MEA, India]

Leaders from Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa have arrived in the western Indian state of Goa for the 8th BRICS Summit that begins on Saturday.

The group will discuss the global economic and political situation over the next two days.

Host Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his BRICS counterparts: Brazil’s Michel Temer, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, China’s Xi Jinping and South Africa’s Jacob Zuma, will discuss global growth prospects and the role of BRICS in leading this global growth, Indian officials said.

On the agenda of the summit this year: creating a BRICS agricultural research platform, a BRICS railway research network and a BRICS Sports Council.

Modi will host the leaders of the world’s largest emerging economies at an informal dinner on Saturday.

The leaders summit will begin on Sunday with a group photo, followed by a restricted meeting of the five BRICS leaders.

The five countries will ink agreements on environmental cooperation, regulation on customs cooperation and an MOU between Diplomatic Academies of BRICS.

The five leaders will also take stock of the recommendations of a working group that has studied the feasibility of setting up a new BRICS credit-rating company in an effort to break the dominance of the big three developed-nation firms: Fitch, S&P and Moody’s. Developing nations have long complained that they receive harsher assessments than their developed counterparts.

The launch of the New Development Bank is a milestone for the group.

The new lender sold 3 billion yuan ($449 million) of yuan-denominated, green bonds in China’s interbank market in July this year.

Recent growth figures cement India and China’s position as the bright spots among major emerging markets.

A drop in commodity prices, a sharp hike in trade barriers and a flare-up in geopolitical tensions have hit efforts to bolster sluggish global growth.

Meanwhile, the BRICS Business Council is expected to highlight the challenges and opportunities for the bloc through an official report at the summit on Sunday.

On Sunday, the BRICS heads of state will also be officially briefed by the President of the New Development Bank launched by the group, Kundapur Kamath, on the activities and plans of the new lender.

On Thursday in New Delhi, business and industry leaders at the BRICS Business Forum urged the governments to do more to boost intra-BRICS trade and investment.

The Goa communique, a joint statement by the bloc, will be released on Sunday evening.

On Friday, Indian leader Modi said he anticipates “useful conversations with my fellow leaders from China, South Africa, Brazil and Russia on addressing pressing international and regional challenges that stand in the way of our goals”.

Intra-BRICS trade grew to $297 billion in 2014.

TBP