6th BRICS summit

6th BRICS Summit
Sexta cúpula do BRICS

Official logo
Host country Brazil
Date 14 July 2014–16 July 2014
Venue(s) Centro de Eventos do Ceará[1]
Cities Fortaleza and Brasília[2]
Participants BRICS
Follows 5th BRICS summit
Precedes 7th BRICS summit
Website brics6.itamaraty.gov.br

The 6th BRICS summit was the sixth annual diplomatic meeting of the BRICS, a grouping of major emerging economies that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. It was hosted by Brazil, as the first host country of the current five-year summit cycle;[3] the host city was Fortaleza.[4] Though Brazil had previously hosted a four-member BRIC summit in April 2010, 2014 marked its first full BRICS summit;[5] the 2010 summit in Brasília did not officially include South Africa, who were only invited as guests as a prelude to their gaining full membership in December 2010.[6] Argentine President Cristina Kirchner was a special guest of the summit, and the BRICS leaders met with their UNASUR counterparts shortly after. The 6th BRICS summit resulted in the official inauguration of the New Development Bank.

Background

Following the 2013 BRICS summit in Durban, South Africa, the BRICS countries released a joint statement summarising the results of their discussions and naming Brazil as the host country for the 2014 summit.[3] Having agreed to set up a new international development bank during the 2013 summit,[7] the member countries intended to complete the arrangements for the bank prior to the 2014 summit.[8] The summit was initially scheduled for March 2014, but was shifted to a later date at China's request; it was ultimately held on 14–16 July 2014.[9]

Participants

The BRICS leaders at the 6th BRICS summit. Left to right: Putin, Modi, Rousseff, Xi and Zuma.

The heads of state and heads of government that participated in the summit were:

Core BRICS members
Host state and leader are shown in bold text.
Member Represented by Title
Brazil Brazil Dilma Rousseff[10] President
Russia Russia Vladimir Putin[10][11] President
India India Narendra Modi[10] Prime Minister
China China Xi Jinping[10][12] President
South Africa South Africa Jacob Zuma[10] President

The 6th BRICS summit was Narendra Modi's first major international summit as Prime Minister of India. In addition to the five BRICS leaders, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, President of Argentina, was invited to join the proceedings.[13][14][15][16]

Agenda

On 15 July, the group signed a document to create the US$100 billion New Development Bank (NDB) and a reserve currency pool worth an additional US$100 billion.[17] Documents on cooperation between BRICS export credit agencies and an agreement of cooperation on innovation were also signed.[18] In a press release, the group wrote: "We remain disappointed and seriously concerned with the current non-implementation of the 2010 International Monetary Fund (IMF) reforms, which negatively impacts on the IMF's legitimacy, credibility and effectiveness."[19] Some analysts read the announcement of the NDB as a challenge to the IMF and World Bank.[20] The NDB is designed to represent all five of the group's member nations – its headquarters will be in Shanghai, the institution's first president will be from India, the bank's first regional office will be in Johannesburg, the inaugural chairman of the board of governors will be from Russia and the first chairman of the board of directors will be from Brazil. The presidency, with a term of five years, will rotate among the members of the BRICS.[21]

Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that the BRICS sought to reduce dependency on the U.S. dollar and strengthen the rule of international law:[22]

In the BRICS case we see a whole set of coinciding strategic interests. First of all, this is the common intention to reform the international monetary and financial system. In the present form it is unjust to the BRICS countries and to new economies in general. We should take a more active part in the IMF and the World Bank's decision-making system. The international monetary system itself depends a lot on the US dollar, or, to be precise, on the monetary and financial policy of the US authorities. The BRICS countries want to change this.

Bilateral meetings

During the summit, Xi Jinping was said to have told Narendra Modi that China was willing to consider expanding the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to include India as a full member at the 2014 SCO summit.[23]

BRICS–UNASUR summit

The five BRICS members and eleven invited UNASUR members at the summit.

The BRICS held a summit with the UNASUR leaders in Brasília on 16 and 17 July.[24]

Invited UNASUR heads of state[24]

Gallery of participating leaders

Members:

References

  1. ↑ "Programme: VI BRICS Summit". Brazilian Ministry of External Relations. 2014. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
  2. ↑ "UNASUR leaders arrive in Brazil for BRICS summit". Buenos Aires Herald. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Fifth BRICS summit declaration and action plan". BRICS. 27 March 2013. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  4. ↑ "A Cúpula de Durban e o futuro dos BRICS". Post-Western World. 4 July 2013. Retrieved 7 November 2013.
  5. ↑ "The BRICS summit: Lacking mortar". The Economist. 27 March 2013. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  6. ↑ "BRIC Summit Joint Statement, April 2010". Council on Foreign Relations. 15 April 2010. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  7. ↑ "Brics eye infrastructure funding through new development bank". The Guardian. 28 March 2013. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
  8. ↑ "India sees BRICS development bank agreed by 2014 summit". Reuters. 19 April 2013. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  9. ↑ "BRICS 2014 Summit Official Site". Retrieved 17 July 2014.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 "Modi Likely to Watch FIFA World Cup Final ahead of BRICS Summit". India West. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  11. ↑ "Putin to visit Brazil for final game of World Cup 2014". PRAVDA.Ru. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  12. ↑ "Brazil to Use Chinese Visit for Business Deals". Folha de S.Paulo. June 2014. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Argentina invited to BRICS meeting in Brazil". Buenos Aires Herald. 29 May 2014. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 "Argentina to Join BRICS Upcoming Summit on Russia's Invitation". FARS. 31 May 2014. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 "The good, the bad and the Paris Club". Bueno Aires Herald. 1 June 2014. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 "BRICS summit: PM Modi to leave for Brazil tomorrow, will seek reforms". Hindustan Times. 13 July 2014. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
  17. ↑ "On Eve of BRICS Summit, Atlantic Nations Push Green Death, Pacific Pushes Development". Larouchepac.com. 8 July 2014. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
  18. ↑ "BRICS establish $100bn bank and currency reserves to cut out Western dominance – RT Business". Russia: RT. 15 July 2014. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
  19. ↑ "Press releases". Brics6.itamaraty.gov.br. Retrieved 17 July 2014.
  20. ↑ "BRICS countries near development bank deal to rival IMF, WB". Russia: RT. 16 July 2014. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
  21. ↑ "BRICS Development Bank launched, first president to be from India". The Times of India. 16 July 2014. Retrieved 17 July 2014.
  22. ↑ "Putin: No plans for BRICS military, political alliance". RT.com. 15 July 2014. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
  23. ↑ "Delhi gears to join China-Russia club - America sniffs Nato ‘counterweight’". Telegraph India. 5 August 2014. Retrieved 25 October 2014.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 "Los líderes del BRICS, Unasur, Cuba, México y Costa Rica se citan en Brasilia". La Vanguardia. 15 July 2014. Retrieved 26 January 2015.