President Dmitry Medvedev called for greater cooperation with Brazil, India and China and said increasing trade in their own currencies may help forge closer economic ties among the states.
“The possibilities of multilateral cooperation in nuclear power, aviation building, space exploration and utilization and nanotechnology are far-reaching,” Medvedev said in an article, e-mailed by the Kremlin press service on Tuesday. “Agreements on mutual trade in national currencies” should help such cooperation, he said.
Medvedev and his counterparts from the BRIC nations will meet for their second summit on April 15 and 16 in Brasilia. At their first conference in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg last June, the four heads of state called for emerging economies to have a greater voice in international financial institutions and for a more diversified global monetary system.
Brazil, Russia, India and China should complete the “long overdue” reforms of the Bretton Woods system, Medvedev said Tuesday. The four countries, which account for 42 percent of the world’s population and contributed more than 50 percent of global economic growth in recent years, could also make a joint contribution toward a G20 “post-crisis” program, he said.
Medvedev also said it is “important” to take common steps, including exchanging information about possible “speculative attacks” on one another's currency, securities and commodities markets to ensure economic security.
“By strengthening the economic foundation of the multipolar world, BRIC nations objectively help create the conditions for strengthening international security,” Medvedev said.