The leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa gathered in New Delhi last month for the 4th BRICS Summit, where they agreed to work toward creating a BRICS development bank, proposed trading with each other in their own currencies, criticized the slow pace of reforms in IMF governance, and expressed support for a UN rather than US or EU role in resolving crises in Iran and Syria.
Today’s post examines the views of Russia, India and China on the growing importance of the BRICS.
RUSSIA
Commentary in Russia praised the deepening of coordination amongst BRICS countries and supported plans for a BRICS development bank while also emphasizing the need for further development of the bloc.
- Russian president Dmitry Medvedev expressed dissatisfaction with the pace of reform of “the world’s financial-economic architecture which fails to take sufficient account of [the BRICS'] role in the global economy,” and called for a key role for the BRICS in world affairs. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin added that Russia will continue to prioritize its relations with the bloc, which he called “the most telling symbol of transferring from a uni-polar to a more just world order.”
- Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of Russia in Global Affairs, asserts that the BRICS value “national sovereignty as a fundamental structural element of the world system. This concept is an alternative to the Western approach that is based on the premise that today sovereignty is no longer as sacred and immutable as it was in the past.” In the state-run RIA Novosti, Lukyanov added, “the recipes for resolving international issues offered by the usual leaders (the West) either don’t work or produce the opposite effect. “
INDIA
Hosted in Delhi, the BRICS Summit drew extensive and diverse commentary in the vibrant Indian press, reflecting the contesting schools of thought on India’s foreign policy.
On economic matters, the proposal to set up a BRICS development bank drew much attention and generated heated debate:
- Samir Saran and Vivan Sharan of the Observer Researcher Foundation outlined a series ofconcrete proposals for how such a bank could be designed, calling the bank “an idea whose time has come.” The ORF is an Indian think tank that hosted the BRICS Academic Forum, which produced policy recommendations for the summit. (more…)
APR
Over the past decade and a half, the United States and India have turned aside yearss of mutual distrust and forged a strategic partnership that currently enjoys widespread support in both countries. Could this bilateral partnership become one of the defining relationships of the coming era? What caused this unprecedented change, and what might cause it to change again? Henry R. Nau and Richard Fontaine answer these questions and more in our latest Policy Report.
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