Xi leaves Beijing to attend 6th BRICS Summit
July 13, 2014, 7:09 am

Apart from attending the summit in Brazil, Xi is making state visits to Argentina, Venezuela and Cuba [AP]

Apart from attending the summit in Brazil, Xi is making state visits to Argentina, Venezuela and Cuba.

After meeting his BRICS counterparts, Xi will be holding bilateral talks with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, Argentine President Cristina Kirchner, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and Raul Castro, president of the Council of State and the Council of Ministers of Cuba.

Xi will also attend the China-CELAC (Latin America and the Caribbean) Summit in Brazil.

Xi’s high-profile entourage includes Wang Huning, member of the CPC Politburo and a key architect of President Xi Jinping’s ‘China Dream’ campaign, Li Zhanshu, head of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and one of Xi’s closest allies and State Councilor Yang Jiechi.

Meanwhile, South African President Jacob Zuma has already reached Brazil for the Summit, while Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are en-route.

Zuma, Putin and Xi will also attend the closing ceremony and the final match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil in Maracana Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, on 13 July 2014, at the invitation of the Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.

The 6^th BRICS Summit will also be attended by leaders of South American nations.

After agreeing on the share of funding contributions for the BRICS bank from each of the members, the location of the Bank had been a thorny issue for the group. All members, apart from Brazil had bid to host the Bank.

A Kremlin aide said earlier this week that Shanghai has been chosen as the headquarters of the Bank, although the first of the rotating chairs of the Bank is yet to be decided.

The new development Bank will reduce these nations’ reliance on Western financial institutions.

At the Brazil summit, the group’s sixth since 2009, the BRICS leaders will also sign on the creation of a joint foreign exchange reserves pool.

The reserves pool of central bank money would be available to emerging economies facing balance of payments difficulties or could be tapped to stabilise economies during crises.

TBP