© RIA Novosti / Alexei Druzhinin
For the past 10 years, BRICS has navigated dramatic turns in global politics and the economy to emerge as an association of countries that is likely to play a key role in a new world order.
As I'm writing this, the BRICS summit is going to an end in Brazil. This particular summit is significant not only because the association marks
its 10th anniversary. This time, the most noteworthy aspect is the location.Brazil is headed by Jair Bolsonaro, a man considered staunchly pro-American, and someone who passionately admires and even imitates Donald Trump. Bolsonaro's sweeping victory in the presidential election last fall led some to speculate whether BRICS could lose its first letter.
Besides openly looking up to the US, the ex-army captain made a number of hostile remarks regarding China during his campaign, quite in the spirit of his American 'prototype.' One of his complaints was that Beijing has been economically enslaving Brazil and Latin America, in general. Another of his claims was that doing business with China is unprofitable.
Comment: RT
reports on the coordinated divestment of the dollar:
In past five years, Russia has almost halved its foreign trade payments in US currency, from 92 to 50 percent, said the CEO of Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and member of the BRICS Business Council Kirill Dmitriev.
Talking to RT on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Brazil, Dmitriev said that payments in ruble increased from 3 to 14 percent over the period.
The five major emerging economies - Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa - are currently developing a joint new payment system.
He explained that developing the national segments of payment systems and their sustainable integration are the "key drivers of the economic partnership among the BRICS countries, given the increasing non-market risks of the global payment infrastructure."
The potential use of a single cryptocurrency for payments among BRICS member-countries is also expected to be discussed during the forum. Such payments will be conducted via the BRICS payment system, Dmitriev said, adding "The joint funds established with RDIF's assistance for investments made in national currencies and technology development can serve as the foundation for that."
RDIF is the Chair of the BRICS Business Council's Financial Services Working Group.
And Russia's
portion within BRICS exceeds $125 Billion, and counting:
Russia continues expanding economic cooperation with fellow BRICS countries, said President Vladimir Putin at BRICS Summit in Brazil. Russia's trade with Brazil, India, China and South Africa has grown by 22.4 percent.
"We are actively participating in international trade, boosting our mutually beneficial ties with foreign countries — first and foremost, our BRICS partners. In 2018, our trade with the four countries exceeded $125 billion," said the Russian leader.
He also said that Russia is ready to share its experience in digital technologies. "There are good chances for boosting our cooperation in computer science and telecommunications. Russia offers BRICS states to take a closer look at our newest projects. I am talking about electronic document management, search systems and antivirus software, which responds to the highest advanced security requirements."
The Russian president offered to expand energy cooperation, noting: "Russia reliably ensures deliveries of energy materials to global markets and makes a significant contribution to supporting global energy security which is vital for economic growth and social development."
Putin has earlier called on the trade partners to develop settlements in national currencies, instead of the commonly used currencies like the US dollar. According to him, the integration of payments systems and the establishment of an independent channel on information exchange could facilitate the stability of the banking systems of the five countries.
As of 2018, combined nominal GDP of these five emerging economies amounted to $18.6 trillion, which is about 23 percent of the gross world product. The trade bloc represents more than 40 percent of the world's population.
According to International Monetary Fund estimates, member states are responsible for more than half of the global economic growth of the last 10 years.
RT provides Putin's full press interview at BRICS below:
Comment: See also: