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The establishment of the BRICS secretariat will be a significant political step for the bloc of five [PPIO]
Vadim Lukov, Ambassador at Large, Deputy Representative of the President of Russia in the G8, Ministry Coordinator for G20 and BRICS affairs made the announcement at a press briefing on the role of BRICS in the G20 on Thursday.
The establishment of the BRICS secretariat will be a significant political step for the bloc of five.
BRICS leaders are meeting later today in Saint Petersburg to take stock of the developments on the Durban Declaration launched in the BRICS Summit earlier this year.
Speaking exclusively to The BRICS Post, earlier in June this year, Sergei Storchak, Russia’s Deputy Finance Minister emphasised the need for such an entity.
“We will depend on modern technology and establish an electronic secretariat so that we avoid getting into too much administrative work. An electronic secretariat would store all necessary documents and information, processed and accumulated for future generations,” said Storchak.
Regarding updates on the BRICS Bank, Lukov said some of the most important decisions have already been made, including a capital of $50 billion.
He also said that apart from the BRICS, other countries might have stakes in the bank, as well as some international organisations.
Significant progress has been made on the statutes of the new BRICS Development Bank which will soon be concluded, asserted Brazil’s foreign minister earlier in July.
“We made good progress during the last meeting in Durban and the expectation is that in the 2014 meeting in Brazil, enough progress has been made to conclude the statutes of the bank,” Antonio Patriota had said in Brasilia.
Lukov also stressed the role of the BRICS in boosting global economic growth following the financial crisis of 2008.
“The BRICS countries played a crucial role in elaborating the key decision on the World Bank reforms and the IMF reconstruction. The BRICS were loyal partners helping to work out the key decision of the G20 starting from the framework agreement on sustainable growth,” Lukov said in Thursday’s briefing.
Lukov also commended the BRICS role in elaborating the so-called “Saint Petersburg Action Plan” for the development of the global economy and creation of new jobs.
Amid recent criticism about slowing growth that has plagued the five countries, Lukov pointed out the BRICS still had an average of 4.11 per cent growth in 2011-2013, against 1.37 per cent in the developed economies during the same period.
“That means the BRICS are still an important locomotive of the global economic growth,” Lukov said.
He also asserted that the BRICS had added $75 billion to the IMF bailout fund in 2012, “even though the IMF’s first and foremost task is to help the developed economies”.
Referring to political cooperation among BRICS, Lukov said today that the group of five seek to establish a full-fledged mechanism gradually.
The Contingent Reserve Arrangement was announced during the BRICS Summit in Durban in March.
BRICS leaders had agreed to create a pool of reserves to provide financial support to the group’s five member countries in case of need.
The BRICS hold total foreign-currency reserves of $4.4 trillion, $3 trillion of which are held by China alone.
One of the most crucial achievements of this year’s BRICS summit was the formation of a new 25-member BRICS Business Council comprised of five members from each of the member nations. The Council has already met this year and will submit a report at the next annual gathering of the bloc in Brazil.
Total trade within the BRICS grouping amounted to $6.1 billion representing 16.8 per cent of global trade in 2012.
Daria Chernyshova at Saint Petersburg for The BRICS Post
