Taken as a counterpoint to the G-7's, Bric summit gathered Indian, Russian, Chinese and Brazilian heads of State
The announcement is the greatest progress of the first summit between Brazil, Russia, India and China that took place today in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg. When the meeting was coming to an end, the Brics agreed to act in a coordinated way on the reform of the international financial system.
It was the Russian president, Dmitri Medvedev, who formalized the accomplishment of the official objective of the gathering: “We will coordinate our job. We will act in a permanent and strong way”, said the head of State, in reference to the global agenda for financial restructuring.
Besides, although it wasn’t officially recognized, the meeting had another objective: to serve as a counterpoint against the G-7 reunion to be held in Italy next month.
The leaders also dealt with a wide range of subjects of their interest, aiming to search for a new world order which reflects the weight their economies gained over the last few years. At least for the economist who created the abbreviation ‘Bric’, Jim O’Neill, the share the Bric countries have on the world economy will only rise in the near future.
According to his most recent projections, in 2027 China’s economy should overcome the economical power of the U.S., contributing so much to the group as a whole that it might beat G-7’s first world economies in less than two decades. The last prediction saw this happening only in 2035.
Common interests
In spite of the big differences that divide Bric members, they see eye to eye with each other when it comes to the essentiality of a reform in the global financial system. All of them defend that supervision mechanisms of the financial market be strengthened and that emerging countries be allowed to have a greater voice in the IMF and in the World Bank.
Today they said there is a strong need for a stable, predictable and more diversified global monetary system and urged support for a more democratic and just multipolar world order. However, there was no explicit questioning about the use of U.S. dollar as a global reserve currency. This questioning raises several possibilities – and concrete purposes were already made in the summit.
Medvedev’s economic adviser Arkady Dvorkovich said Russia may diversify its currency reserves investments by buying bonds issued by Brazil, China and India. He told a briefing that Russia could make the move if the other three Bric members reciprocate.
In the political field, all countries agree UN should consider a greater participation of emerging and developing countries. China and Russia already take part in this select group together with France, United Kingdom and the United States. Brazil and India, together with Japan and Germany, are trying to get a permanent seat in the Council.
The struggle to play a greater political role can count with undeniable economical facts. Together, the Bric countries represent 15% of the world Gross Domestic Product (GDP), 15% percent of international trade, 40% of the world population and 25% of all inhabitable territory of the planet.
Brazil’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Celso Amorim, even said last Friday that the G-8 is dead. “I don’t have a single doubt, because it represents nothing else”, he said and complemented: “I don’t know how the funeral will be. Sometimes it happens slowly”.