BRICS to strengthen political cooperation: Putin |
Moscow, July 15 (IANS): BRICS countries
intend to strengthen the political element of their cooperation, Russian
President Vladimir Putin said here before leaving for the BRICS leaders
summit in Brazil beginning Tuesday.
"We will
develop the practice of mutual consultations and joint actions in
international organisations, first of all, in the UN. In the long term,
we will create a virtual BRICS secretariat," Putin told ITAR-TASS in an
interview.
"At the same time, I would like to
stress that we do not have any plans to form a BRICS military and
political alliance," he added.
Elaborating on
the mechanism of political cooperation, the Russian president said: "We
propose to create a mechanism of regular high-level consultations
between our foreign ministries on different regional conflicts to agree
on common positions and joint efforts to ensure their political and
diplomatic settlement."
At the summit he would raise the issue of increasing cases of unilateral sanctions, Putin said.
"Together
we should think about a system of measures that would help prevent the
harassment of countries that do not agree with some foreign policy
decisions made by the United States and their allies," Putin said.
Russia has recently been put under sanctions by the US and allies over its standoff with Ukraine.
In
the economic sphere, the group of emerging economies are going to
discuss the overdue reform of the international financial system.
"The
BRICS countries are concerned about the unreasonable delay in holding a
debate of the subject of IMF reforms. This jeopardises all the efforts
of G20 in this direction," Putin said.
"In the
meantime, it is the case of fulfilling the rightful demands of new
economies to balance the IMF according to the 21st century reality," he
added.
Currently, a BRICS' Economic
Cooperation Strategy is being drafted on Russia's initiative, while a
number cooperation ventures are being explored to ensure the document
becomes reality.
"It will focus on creating
preconditions for accelerated economic development and strengthening the
international competitiveness of our countries, the expansion and
diversification of trade relations, and ensuring interaction for
innovative growth," Putin said.
"A number of
prospective cooperation ventures are being studied to make sure the
document is backed by concrete investment", he added.
Another common issue is about the rules of responsible behaviour in the global information space.
"Such
rules must be based on the principles of respect for a country's
sovereignty, non-interference in domestic affairs, observance of human
rights and freedoms, as well as equal rights for all countries to
participate in Internet management," Putin said
"We
are planning to shape a joint information policy in the international
arena to support BRICS' activity and to present a more unbiased picture
of the world", he added.
The Sixth BRICS
Summit, being held in Fortaleza and capital Brasilia July 15-16, is
expected to see finalisation of setting up of the long-discussed BRICS
development Bank and the foreign currency reserves pool.
The
BRICS development bank and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement are seen
as a counterweight to the Western-dominated financial organisations, the
World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
The
bloc, comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa,
accounts for over 40 percent of the global population and has a combined
GDP of $24 trillion.
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