BRICS to boost intra-group co-operation

Trade ministers of world's major emerging economies Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) meeting in New Delhi have decided to bring their economies closer together to facilitate growth of trade and investment within the group.

The ministers, meeting ahead of the group's summit in New Delhi this week, heralded hope for a bloc that brings together about half the world's population by announcing measures to bring their stock exchanges together.

While the details are yet to be worked out, the summit of BRICS leaders this week is also expected to announce plans for a joint development bank on the lines of the World Bank.

The initiative would allow the countries to pool resources for infrastructure improvements, and could also be used in the longer term as a vehicle for lending during global financial crises such as the one in Europe, officials say.

Brazilian trade minister Fernando Pimentel had, last week, told reporters in Brasilia that the countries would sign a deal at the summit to study the creation of a bank (See: BRICS propose to create own multilateral bank).

Officials say the initiatives will take time as they need to sort out details. But the ministers have directed their officials to explore ways and means for enhancing and furthering intra-group cooperation, especially in the areas of customs, trade facilitation, investment promotion, IPR, SME development, trade data collection and harmonisation, e-commerce etc.