http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/600/42/378817.htm
Sergei Karpukhin / Reuters
From left, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil, Dmitry Medvedev, Hu
Jintao of China and Manmohan Singh of India attending the first BRIC summit
Tuesday.??
BRIC Leaders Seek a Greater Voice
17 June 2009By Ira Iosebashvili / The Moscow TimesPresident Dmitry
Medvedev led the leaders of Brazil, China and India in discussions Tuesday on
reforming the global financial system and lessening reliance on the United
States at the first summit of the world's four largest emerging economies.
The four BRIC countries - which make up 15 percent of the global economy
and hold nearly 40 percent of the world's currency reserves - expressed
interest in working more closely together economically, although the
cooperation at the Yekaterinburg summit was mostly confined to symbolic
gestures.
Leaders discussed investing their reserves into one another's bonds,
swapping reserve currencies and increasing the role of Special Drawing Rights,
an international reserve asset. But discussions about the creation of a
supranational currency and lessening global reliance on the U.S. dollar - two
favorite Kremlin topics as of late - were confined to a meeting of the Shanghai
Cooperation Organization that took place earlier in the day in the Urals city.
In his opening comments, Medvedev said it was "obvious" that the BRIC
leaders needed to find "nonstandard decisions" to common economic problems.
"Life is difficult. Strategic partners must meet more often and seek
broader trade and economic relations," Medvedev told Brazilian President Luiz
Inacio Lula da Silva earlier in the day.
A joint BRIC statement issued before the summit called for a greater role
for developing nations in global financial institutions and the United Nations.
"We are committed to advance the reform of international financial
institutions so as to reflect changes in the world economy," the statement
said. "The emerging and developing economies must have a greater voice and
representation in international financial institutions."
The statement also said the senior leadership of international financial
institutions should be selected "through an open, transparent and merit-based
selection process."
At the end of the summit, Medvedev said developing countries must "create
the conditions for a fairer world order." The other leaders sat next to him and
did not offer any comments.
Medvedev reserved his more fiery rhetoric for the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization summit, showing that Russia remained eager to play the role of a
power broker among emerging economies and a critic of the current world
financial system - which it views as unfairly dominated by the United States.
Despite recent comments by Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin in support of
the dollar, Medvedev continued his verbal assault on the U.S. currency, urging
leaders to find a way to diversify the world's reserve currencies. "The
existing set of reserve currencies, including the U.S. dollar, have failed to
perform their functions," Medvedev said.
"There cannot be a successful global currency system if the financial
instruments it uses are denominated in only one currency," he said. "This is
the case today, and that currency is the dollar."
Earlier this month, Medvedev said the dollar was not in "a spectacular
position" and cast doubt on its future as a global reserve currency.
Kudrin, meanwhile, said Saturday that the dollar's financial indicators
were fine and expressed confidence in its strength.
Kremlin economic aide Arkady Dvorkovich sought to reconcile the two
viewpoints Tuesday, telling reporters in Yekaterinburg that "shocks" on the
currency markets were to be avoided and that "nobody wants to bring the dollar
down."
"We are not looking to exclude the dollar," Dvorkovich said. "But the
world economy will grow, and that growing pie should be divided in a fairer
way."
Dvorkovich also said the International Monetary Fund should include the
ruble, the Chinese yuan and gold in the basket of currencies that make up
Special Drawing Rights.
But the idea of replacing the dollar found little traction with at least
one BRIC member. China, which holds $2 trillion in foreign currency reserves,
did not offer any comment in support of the proposal.
Analysts said that while the BRIC summit was limited to mostly to kind
words, the grouping was still at its infancy and could gain significant
economic and political clout in the future.
"The statements might have been mostly symbolic, but that doesn't mean
they will be by 2020," said Elina Rybakova, chief economist at Citibank.
"They have set some very good goals to work toward," she said.
Medvedev sought to emphasize ties with fellow BRIC leaders.
He reminded Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at a meeting after the
summit that the Soviet Union had helped India to industrialize and develop its
carbon potential and also came to the rescue in 1971, when then-U.S. President
Richard Nixon sent a fleet into Indian territorial waters during the war
between India and Pakistan.
Medvedev then waxed poetic, saying business and human ties between the
two countries represented "thousands, millions of invisible strings."
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