BRICS Information Centre
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BRICS Information Centre |
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Press Statement Following the BRICS Summit:
President of the Russian Federation
Dmitry Medvedev, President, Russian Federation
New Delhi, March 29, 2012
The summit in New Delhi is the fourth BRICS Summit to date. I am particularly pleased to note that Russia was one of the initiators of this format of interaction. In the three years that have passed since the first summit in Yekaterinburg, Russia, BRICS has become firmly established in the international arena. At the heart of the association’s viability is the unity of the participating countries’ fundamental economic and political interests. The future BRICS agenda includes the forum’s gradual transformation into a strong and influential organisation, which we just talked about at an expanded format meeting.
One of the most important outcomes of today’s meeting was the confirmation of past agreements on our cooperation in the modernisation of the international monetary system. This primarily involves the reform of the International Monetary Fund: the reform must be carried through to its conclusion and in a way we had agreed at the G20 Summit, without putting it off for a later time, because the problems facing the international financial system have not been overcome yet.
We have conducted an objective analysis of the situation in the global economy and decided on the future coordination in the framework of the mechanisms that we had agreed, including as part of the preparations for the G20 Summit.
We also discussed a number of political issues, as has already been stated. Naturally, special attention was paid to the most complicated situations, the hot spots, including the crisis in Syria. We proceeded from the fact that certain principles of the Syrian crisis settlement were adopted recently and the mission headed by Kofi Annan has begun its work.
We believe it is important to avoid outside intervention in Syria’s affairs; we must give the government and the opposition an opportunity to finally engage in dialogue, without undermining it by saying that such dialogue is doomed to failure and only a military intervention can restore order. That is a dangerous and shortsighted approach. We will contribute to the dialogue’s success. Our exchange of views was conducted in this vein and was, I believe, highly constructive.
I have also put forward a proposal for the BRICS countries to extend humanitarian aid to the Syrian people. In fact, Russia is already providing such assistance.
In addition, our discussion touched on the Iranian nuclear programme, as well as other pressing issues on the current international agenda, including Afghanistan, Middle East settlement and other topics.
I note with satisfaction that each summit of our five states results in expanding the areas of our multilateral cooperation. Today, it covers the coordination of our states’ economic and foreign policies.
The new areas under discussion today included cooperation in the research and development of mineral resources, energy policy, energy security, food security, emergency humanitarian response and strengthening cultural ties among our nations.
On the whole, I would like to say that I am very satisfied with the results of our work. I am sure that BRICS has great potential and excellent development prospects. I would like to sincerely thank my colleagues, the leaders of Brazil, India, China and South Africa for constructive cooperation throughout these years.
Thank you.
Source: Kremlin