The dominance of the US dollar among the BRICS countries will end - Putin
Agency
August 23, 2023 08:00 MYT
A recording of Vladimir Putin's speech was shown at the BRICS summit which took place in Johannesburg, South Africa on Tuesday. - REUTERS photo
The dominance of the US dollar among the BRICS countries will end - Putin
A recording of Vladimir Putin's speech was shown at the BRICS summit which took place in Johannesburg, South Africa on Tuesday. - REUTERS photo
JOHANNESBURG: The dominance of the United States (US) dollar among the BRICS member countries will end, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday.
Speaking at the BRICS summit held here, Putin said, at the meeting of the bloc, the member countries will discuss the trade transition from the US dollar to the national currency.
At the same time, he explained, the BRICS New Development Bank will play an important role towards achieving that goal.
"The main objective of reducing the role of the dollar in our economic relations is gaining momentum," Putin said.
BRICS is an abbreviation for the names of the member countries of the idea, which are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
All BRICS member countries represent more than 40 percent of the world's population and they cooperate in various fields such as economics, politics and international affairs.
In conjunction with the summit, security was heightened throughout Johannesburg which saw South African President Cyril Ramaphosa host Chinese President Xi Jinping; Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi; The President of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva besides 50 other international leaders.
Putin, who was unable to attend the meeting physically because of an arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court, addressed the meeting via video.
He said, the bloc is on its way to meet the aspirations of most of the world's population.
"We cooperate based on the principle of equality, support of partners, respect for each other's interests and this is the future-oriented strategic essence of our partnership, a need that meets the aspirations of the majority of the world community, which is often called the global majority," Putin said.
When Putin rejected the dollar, Brazilian President Lula da Silva said that the same BRICS trading currency would be fully introduced to facilitate trade between developing countries.
"We don't want to be an opponent of the G7, G20, or the US," Lula said.
"We just want to manage ourselves."
Lula also expressed his support for the participation of other countries in this bloc while announcing Indonesia as a potential new member of BRICS.
The three-day summit will hear many calls for more economic cooperation and collaboration in areas such as health, education and climate change - at the same time echoed by voices of concern that some developing countries are not getting the attention of Western countries.
In conjunction with the conference, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa held separate talks with Xi in Pretoria.
Ramaphosa said, South Africa and Africa are enlisting China's support to reform global control institutions, especially the United Nations Security Council (UN). - Agency
