BRICS leaders to discuss fight against terrorism, global growth
November 15, 2015, 6:12 am

The five leaders of BRICS met in Ufa, Russia on 9 July 2015 [Xinhua]

As the BRICS countries launched new financial institutions like the $100 billion BRICS Bank, the China-led Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, and a $100 billion BRICS currency reserve fund, the IMF has once again delayed voting reforms to give emerging countries greater say.

“We will traditionally hold an informal meeting of the BRICS leaders where Russia currently holds chair. We will compare notes on the key issues of the G20 agenda and important international and regional problems,” said Putin.

The Russian President also reiterated the BRICS position that “it is necessary to impartially and equally redistribute quotas and voting shares among IMF members in favour of those developing economies that have gained greater weight; to improve the efficiency and legitimacy of the Fund’s activities”.

The meet on the sidelines of the Group of Twenty summit is expected to further boost political and economic ties between the BRICS.

BRICS Presidents Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Dilma Rousseff, Jacob Zuma and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet to eke out a strategy of cooperating within the framework of the G20.

Apart from the focus on economic issues, BRICS leaders are expected to discuss the fight against terrorism, especially after the recent attacks in Beirut and Paris.

Putin will meet his BRICS counterparts two weeks after a suspected bomb attack on a Russian airliner that killed 224 people in the Sinai Peninsula.

The Paris attacks have also cast a shadow over preparations for the two-day summit of the Group of 20 major economies that begins on Sunday.

French President Francois Hollande has pulled out of the meetings as he deals with the national emergency at home.

Meanwhile, the five BRICS leaders will discuss developing agreements aimed at accelerating global economic growth and reiterate demands for one of the most difficult problems in global governance: IMF reforms.

The $100 billion BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) has become fully operational following the inaugural meetings of the BRICS CRA Board of Governors and the Standing Committee in the Turkish capital of Ankara in September.

The CRA is meant to provide an alternative to International Monetary Fund’s emergency lending.

BRICS leaders witnessed the signing of the agreement on the CRA in the Brazilian city of Fortaleza in July 2014.

The agreement entered into force on July 30, 2015.

China will provide the bulk of the funding with $41 billion, Brazil, Russia and India with $18 billion each, and South Africa with $5 billion.

In the CRA, emergency loans of up to 30 per cent of a member nation’s contribution will be decided by a simple majority. Bigger loans will require the consent of all CRA members.

World leaders will huddle in the Turkish capital over the next two days amid growing worries about the state of the global economy.

The eurozone economy grew by just 0.3 per cent in the third quarter of the year.

US stocks capped their worst week since August amid concern growth remains uneven as policy makers consider raising interest rates as soon as next month.

TBP