Xi to attend summits in Russia, discuss BRICS Bank, Ukraine
June 29, 2015, 9:02 am

Russian President Vladimir Putin with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on 9 November 2014 [PPIO]

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said on Monday in Beijing that Xi will attend the 7th BRICS summit on July 8-9 and the 15th meeting of the Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) on July 9-10 in the Russian city of Ufa.

Even as a crowded G7 agenda earlier this month was dominated by Ukraine, a Brazilian diplomat on Monday said the group of five will also not shy away from discussing the crisis.

“The Ukraine crisis, undoubtedly, is not a taboo for discussions in the framework of BRICS. I am sure that our leaders, having all the freedom to express their political positions, will touch upon this issue,” Brazil’s envoy to Russia Jose Vallim Guerreiro told Russian state agency Ria Novosti.

The G7 leaders struck a firm tone on Russia’s role in Ukraine at a meeting in a Bavarian resort earlier in June.

Russia was suspended from the G8 last year over its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region and its alleged backing of separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Russia denies the allegations.

US State Department’s top diplomat has last week compared China’s behavior in the South China Sea to that of Russia in eastern Ukraine.

“In both eastern Ukraine and the South China Sea, we’re witnessing efforts to unilaterally and coercively change the status quo — transgressions that the United States and our allies stand united against,” US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday.

Meanwhile, the BRICS New Development Bank will be launched at the first session of its Board of Governors in Moscow on 7 July, Russian officials have confirmed.

The BRICS Bank will have initial authorized capital of $100 billion, and its initial subscribed capital of $50 billion will be equally shared among founding members, under the agreement.

It will stipulate a three-tier governance structure — a board of governors, a board of directors and management led by the president.

India has already nominated the first BRICS Bank President, Kundapur Vaman Kamath.

The New Development Bank will provide a financing alternative to the World Bank, where the five large emerging markets have sought more clout.

BRICS leaders also announced the establishment of the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement, a 100-billion-dollar fund from which the BRICS member countries will be allowed to draw funds when going through a crisis.

The bank is set to be headquartered in Shanghai.

Brazil’s envoy to the IMF and newly announced BRICS Bank Vice President , Paulo Nogueirga Batista, said at the BRICS Business forum earlier this month in Russia that the BRICS are “not fully satisfied with the international financial architecture, not fully satisfied with the role that our countries are allowed to have at the IMF and the World Bank”.

“Our countries are very active in IMF….We work together at the IMF… Despite this active involvement in the Washington institutions, our countries have begun to realize that we need to do our own thing,” said Batista.

TBP