Pretoria - Russian President Vladimir Putin says the upcoming BRICS Summit will open new opportunities for economic and humanitarian cooperation.
“We will certainly discuss the issues of project funding through the New Development Bank and of a full-fledged launch of the BRICS Contingent Currency Reserve Pool,” President Putin said during a recent interview with Sputnik News Agency.
BRICS countries are five major developing economies which include Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
He said the New Development Bank (NDB) started its work this year having approved the first projects in all five countries.
President Putin said the summit will be an opportunity for the leaders of the five countries to harmonise their positions on key issues on the international agenda.
“We are determined to cooperate in the fight against terrorism, drug trafficking and corruption.
“We will also contribute to settling conflicts and ensuring international information security,” he said.
President Putin said Russia has proposed more than 60 projects which could be implemented in cooperation with its BRICS partners, either with a single partner or with all of them.
“I believe that if we manage to jointly determine partners for the implementation of these projects, it will be an important step towards the modernisation of our countries’ economies.
“Russia also supports enhanced cooperation in electronic commerce (including analysis of key barriers between the countries in this sphere, development of the best regulatory practices, etc.), in trade facilitation (with involvement of the Eurasian Economic Commission), supporting small and medium-sized businesses (launching a web portal for BRICS small and medium-sized businesses), and protection of intellectual property,” President Putin said.
India will host the 8th BRICS Summit during its Chairmanship which is scheduled to take place on 15 and 16 October in Goa.
The theme of India’s BRICS Chairmanship is Building Responsive, Inclusive and Collective Solutions.
President Jacob Zuma is expected to attend the summit. – SAnews.gov.za
