 "BRICS leaders to set new agenda or hit a wall?")
At a time of slowing global growth, the leaders of BRICS bloc of nations will meet today to discuss among other things whether there should be a development bank to fund infrastructure projects and if they can forge a consensus on other international affairs.
The nations, ironically the result of a Goldman Sachs report coining the acronym, have little in common apart from being the current growth engine of the world and have shown few signs of consensus in the past three meetings apart from agreeing to co-operate with each other.
Leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa will hold a closed door meeting today in Delhi following which India will also be holding bilateral talks with the heads of states.
On the itinerary for the leaders include creation of a separate development bank on the lines of the Asian Development Bank which will help raise funds for developmental projects in the five nations, agreeing on a political stand on issues in Iran and Syria and whether they want to have a say in the creation of the next World Bank chief.
Russia and China have made their position clear that they will not bend with respect to their stand on any intervention in the Syrian crisis and will not support any action by either US or Israel on the Iranian nuclear programme.
The BRICS have already declared that they will not sever ties with Iran due to sanctions by the US and European Union and it comes as no surprise given both China and India import their oil from the nation.
While the development back for the five nations has not been officially disclosed yet, observers say that the leaders of the five nations could approve the draft contours of the proposed bank.
The stock exchanges of the five nations could also launch a benchmark equity index derivative that allows cross listing of firms. This would allow allow investors to trade in stocks across the five nations in the local currencies and should potentially allow them to take advantage of companies across the five nations.
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