By Arvind Padmanabhan, IANS,
On Board Air India One: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Thursday expressed satisfaction that the 5th BRICS Summit delivered on suggestions made by India at the previous conclave in New Delhi, notably on a development bank.
“As you would have seen from the BRICS Declaration, a number of important steps have been taken,” the prime minister said an interaction with the accompanying media delegation on the way back from Durban.
“I am particularly glad some projects, which were either conceived at the New Delhi Summit of BRICS in March last year or piloted by India during its just-concluded chairmanship of BRICS, have registered important progress,” he added.
The projects, as listed by the prime minister, are:
-Nod for a BRICS Development Bank on the lines of the World Bank to address the development needs of emerging and poor economies
-A contingent reserve arrangement with a $100 billion commitment from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa for deployment when any of these nations are in distress
-The setting up of the BRICS Business Council
-The setting up of a mechanism for a BRICS consortium of think tanks.
“For us, BRICS is a very important forum. It represents 27 percent of the global GDP, about 40 percent of the world population and, as such, there is a growing complimentarity,” the prime minister said.
“I certainly value this opportunity annually to review the strength of the global economy, the events that are taking place in various regions of the world and events which have obviously implications for our own growth and prosperity.”
(Arvind Padmanabhan can be reached at [email protected])