BRICS/SCO summits at a glance: New Development Bank, Greece crisis, Iran oil
As the BRICS/SCO summits wrap up in Russia, RT looks back at the issues dominating three days of meetings with a launch of $100bn reserve currency pool, high hopes about the New Development Bank and the possible impact of Iran deal on oil among them.
LIVE UPDATES: BRICS/SCO summits in Russian city of Ufa
About 10,000 visitors gathered at the two events, the BRICS and
the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summits which took
place in the Russian city of Ufa on July 8-10.
READ MORE: BRICS kick starts $100bn reserve
currency pool
The summits kicked off with BRICS countries agreeing to a $100bn
reserve currency pool which aims to protect the member states –
the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South
Africa – from currency volatility shocks.
READ MORE: BRICS bank has own goals, not designed
to compete with likes of IMF & World Bank – VEB head
Signing joint documents following the #BRICS leaders meeting pic.twitter.com/4JUFOIeUKA
— BRICS2015 (@BRICS2015) July 9, 2015
High hopes about New Development Bank
The BRICS New Development Bank, an alternative and a supplement
to existing international “hard currency” financial institutions,
has been launched during the summit.
“The decision was made to create a financial institution
which is to support economic development in BRICS countries. I
would rather say that it’s a complimentary vehicle to be focused
specifically on the development of BRICS countries,”
Vladimir Dmitriev, CEO of Vnesheconombank told RT.
READ
MORE: BRICS bank to consider new infrastructure projects by 2016
– finance minister
Anton Siluanov has been appointed Board Chairman of the New Development Bank http://t.co/4epDrMv51dpic.twitter.com/IuE0KX7adW
— BRICS2015 (@BRICS2015) July 8, 2015
The bank is going to consider the feasibility of new
infrastructure projects by the end of the year, and the
acceptance procedure will be clear and transparent, according to
Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov.
“We agreed that the procedures for adopting new projects will
be simple, clear and transparent in order to make quick
decisions, because the BRICS bank should be efficient and
competitive,” Siluanov told RT.
READ
MORE: BRICS New Development Bank may approve first loan by April,
2016 – President Kamath
The new bank may give its first loan by April 1, 2016, according to its president of Kundapur Vaman Kamath.
"My first target is that by April 1, 2016 we will approve our
first loan," K.V. Kamath told Press Trust of India news
agency, adding that "there will be no competition at
all.”
“The market is big enough for all of us. We all will be major
partners in the development of India and other developing
markets."
READ
MORE: World needs more development banks like BRICS’, not
‘mindless austerity’ – minister
According to South Africa’s Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies, New Development Bank is likely to become new source of funding for the current infrastructure gap.
“I believe we will not be guided by mindless austerity which is causing enormous difficulties in some parts of the developed world.”
BRICS to switch to national currency settlement soon - VTB
head
The summits agreed that the association will start using their
local currencies for mutual settlements quite soon, the head of
Russia’s VTB bank Andrey Kostin said.
“We definitely see a growing interest from the countries to
make settlements in local currencies,” he said, adding that
the summit gave a boost to Russian-Chinese relations.
Official photograph of the #BRICS leaders pic.twitter.com/08BxFQcTYC
— BRICS2015 (@BRICS2015) July 9, 2015
Shadow of Iran nuclear deal talks
The Iran question, which has been a hot topic in recent days, was
also touched upon during the summits.
On Friday Tehran and the six world powers again shifted a
deadline for a deal on Iran’s nuclear program, with both sides
blaming each other.
Right now meeting with President Putin re deepening of bilateral ties & further cooperation. #ConstructiveEngagementpic.twitter.com/8mU8kF4oSH
— Hassan Rouhani (@HassanRouhani) July 9, 2015
According to Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, the impact
of the Iranian oil that is expected to come to world markets
after it signs the agreement on its nuclear program is still
difficult to forecast.
“The oil price undoubtedly forms due to market demand and
supply and today we see that the instability of financial markets
in China has already influenced the price,” he said.
Greek crisis
The Greek question wasn’t left unnoticed during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Q&A session with journalists on the final day of BRICS/SCO summits.
READ
MORE: Putin: Where was EU when Greek crisis was evolving?
“Of course, all the blame can be shifted to the Greeks. But
if there were violations in their activity, where was the
European Commission? Why didn’t it make any adjustments to the
economic activity of the previous government of Greece?”
Putin asked.
#Putin LIVE: #Iran sanctions should end ASAP, don’t work http://t.co/BsSIpBBadE#IranTalksViennapic.twitter.com/rxlwpmcDVz
— RT (@RT_com) July 10, 2015
His statement came as Athens’ new deadline to reach an agreement with its troika of creditors – the IMF, the ECB and the European Commission – is set to be reached this weekend. On Thursday night, Greece presented its new reform plan that, critics say, mirrors the bailout deal that the Greeks rejected at the referendum held Sunday.
Vladimir Putin also held 11 bilateral meetings and a trilateral meeting with China and Mongolia in order to foster regional cooperation.
