By MARCUS MABRY | March 29, 2012, 7:00 PM 1
Article from International Herald Tribune
Saurabh Das/Associated Press
From left to right, President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil, President Dmitri Medvedev of Russia, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India, President Hu Jintao of China and President Jacob Zuma of South Africa at the BRICS 2012 Summit in New Delhi on Thursday.
The leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa announced on Thursday that they would investigate establishing a system that would allow them to bypass the dollar and other global currencies when trading among themselves.
The leaders of the BRICS group of nations also announced that they would explore setting up an alternative to the IMF and the World Bank that would loan to developing countries and bypass the U.S.-European axis of power that has dominated global economic affairs since World War II.
In a story on the stakes and the obstacles before the BRICS nations, our colleague Jim Yardley explained that the group had not accomplished very much before this, their fourth summit meeting, in New Delhi. But Jim wrote that they were expected to come away with at least one concrete product this time:
They are expected to announce agreements that would enable the nations to extend each other credit in local currencies while conducting trade, sidestepping the dollar, a substantive move if not yet the kind of game-changing action once expected from BRICS.
But that raises the questions:
Do you expect the BRICS to change the global game? What is their potential as a bloc or an alliance? Indeed, are they a bloc at all, or just a list of countries whose growing economic might symbolizes the rise of a world where the United States is no longer solely dominant?
The five countries have very different agendas and forms of government. Does this make forming any kind of unified policy or outlook unlikely? Are they really just a smart catchphrase from a Goldman Sachs economist to encapsulate changing global economics, as Walter Ladwig, a visiting fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, argued in the Opinion pages of the IHT?
The French daily Le Figaro believes that “little by little, the BRICS are asserting themselves.” To what end, it does not say.
In its analysis of the summit meeting, the Times of India concentrates on the group’s political statements urging negotiated resolutions of the conflict in Syria and the West’s nuclear standoff with Iran.
Reuters concentrates on the lecturing and hectoring that BRICS leaders delivered to the profligate West, quoting the customary end-of-summit joint declaration: “It is critical for advanced economies to adopt responsible macroeconomic and financial policies, avoid creating excessive global liquidity and undertake structural reforms to lift growth that create jobs.”
Illustrating the countries’ differing, though not always conflicting, agendas:
China Daily reported that Hu Jintao, the Chinese leader, called on the BRICS to “deepen political trust” in one another.
Punjab Newsline said India called on the others to “avoid political disruptions” to trade, especially in West Asia.
And AllAfrica.com said Jacob Zuma, South Africa’s president, called on the others to invest in his country.
Article from International Herald Tribune
