Leaders of the BRICS countries have begun their annual two-day summit in the Russian city of Ufa.
The theme, “Brics Partnership – A Powerful Factor of Global Development,” will be dominated by discussions of the Greek debt crisis; the expected lifting of sanctions on Iran and oil; and the stock market volatility.
Energy efficiency is also one of the important topics to be discussed following meetings between energy ministers in Mexico earlier this year.
A number of pre-summit meetings took place in the run-up to the summit where BRICS Ministers of Trade and Industry held talks.
It’s also expected that leaders will receive feedback on the G20 summit in Brisbane last year regarding the New Development Bank.
Also on the agenda are discussions around economic cooperation between Russia and China.
President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China intends to meet with President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin to discuss bilateral economic cooperation and key issues on the international and regional agendas.
The summit is expected to last two days over Wednesday and Thursday. Additionally the 15th meeting of the Council of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Heads of State will be held on Thursday and Friday.
Historically here’s what you need to know:
- Five summits have been held so far; the first in Yekaterinburg, Russia, on June 16, 2009; second in Brasilia on 15 April 2010, the third in Sanya, China on 14 April 2011, the fourth in New Delhi, India on 29 March 2012, and the fifth in Durban, South Africa on 26 March 2013
- The acronym BRIC was first used in 2001 when Goldman Sachs conceived the model including Brazil, Russia, India and China as part of an economic modelling exercise to forecast global economic trends over the next half century
- South Africa was invited to attend the third BRIC summit in 2011 following a BRIC Foreign Ministers meeting in 2010
BRICS Countries in numbers:
- 42% of the World’s population
- 26% of the World’s land territory
- 27% of the World’s GDP
BRIC Leaders:
- Dilma Roussell, President of Brazil
- Xi Jinping, President of The People’s Republic of China
- Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India
- Vladimir Putin, President of Russia
- Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa
If you like this article you may be interested in “Putin Invites Greece to Join the BRICS Bank”.
