Greece open to becoming BRICS member - Defense Ministry

Sputnik
Tue, 30 Jun 2015 11:13 UTC

© REUTERS/Yorgos Karahalis

Greece is open to the possibility of becoming a member of the BRICS group of developing nations as part of the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB), Greek Deputy Defense Minister Kostas Isychos told Sputnik.

In May, Russia invited Greece to become an NDB member, with discussions on Athens' membership in the bank expected to take place at the July 9-10 BRICS summit in the Russian city of Ufa.

"Greece has also been invited to become a BRICS member within the Development Bank of the BRICS. We are still open to that," Isychos, who is also the co-chair of the Russian-Greek Intergovernmental Committee, said.

According to him, Greece has always been in favor of good European-Russian relations and of European-Eurasian relations. Athens is currently in talks over joining the BRICS bank with the group's members.

So we do have a multilateral foreign policy, both in the strict sense of foreign policy, but also in a broader sense of economic external policy," Isychos added.

Five major developing economies — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — signed an agreement to establish the NDB at a July 2014 summit in Fortaleza, Brazil. BRICS member states agreed to establish a $100-billion liquidity reserve to ensure the bank's financial stability.

The NDB is expected to become an alternative to Western-dominated financial institutions and will focus primarily on funding infrastructure projects.

Comment: Greece has to face that the EU, IMF and Western governments are predatory and have no interest in helping the country and its people to recover from the 'shock doctrine' they have experienced these last few years. Greece has the choice to turn east toward the BRICS and being treated with respect and integrity. Although the transition and recovery would take time if they do so, what choice is there really to make? They can either keep getting abused by the West and its varied institutions or move away from the abuse. What Greece should keep in mind if it does decide to pursue the BRICS is, much like the batterer in domestic violence, the West is going to be enraged and dangerous to the country and its people when the are told "No". The West will in all likelihood pull out their bag of dirty tricks and try to undermine the process of recovery at every opportunity. This includes using assassinations and terrorism.