Ufa (Russia): On the eve of the BRICS Summit to be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Finance Ministers of the five member countries met today, focusing their discussions on the contours and other elements of the BRICS Development Bank.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley participated in the discussions that took place in Moscow. The meeting, chaired by Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and also attended by China's Lou Jiwei, South Africa's Nhlanhla Nene and Brazil's Joaquim Levy, also discussed recent developments in the world economy, including the economic crisis in Greece.
The Finance Ministers are understood to have given final touches to the economic agenda of the two-day BRICS Summit that will be held here tomorrow. Besides Modi, it will be attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and South African President Jacob Zuma.
"Of course, investing funds in economies of other countries will be carried out as well, but the priority is still the development of the infrastructure of the bank's member states," Siluanov told a press conference referring to the New Development Bank launched by the BRICS.
They took note of Greece's efforts to strike a new debt agreement with the euro zone following the 'NO' vote in Sunday's historic referendum.
Russian Central bank head Elvira Nabiullina, who also attended the BRICS meet, said, "Of course, everyone is concerned over what is happening there and...What the consequences would be for financial markets overall and the consequences for countries with forming markets, including BRICS member states? (However), we did not discuss it [Greece situation] in details, and did not aim to work out a common position."
Intra-BRICS trade touched USD 291 billion in 2014 and the combined GDP of the five BRICS countries surged from USD 10 trillion in 2001 to USD 32.5 trillion in 2014.
"During the last six years, intra-BRICS trade increased by more than 70 percent from USD 168 billion in 2008 to USD 291 billion in 2014. These figures prove that our countries have chosen the right way to develop cooperation on the economic track," said Russian Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev.
"Our countries accounted for over 17 percent of global trade, 13 percent of the global services market and 45 percent of the world's agricultural output [in 2014]," Ulyukayev said.
