Rousseff: The BRICS Bank’s Strategic Goal ‘Is To Become the Leading Bank for Developing Countries’
June 17, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)—On June 10, the new President of the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) Dilma Rousseff met with the visiting President of Honduras Xiomara Castro, who was in China at the invitation of President Xi Jinping and to join the Belt and Road Initiative. According to the NDB website, at the meeting in Shanghai with Castro, Rousseff “reiterated NDB’s commitment to supporting infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS and other emerging economies and developing countries, contributing to their development strategies and agendas.”
The statement then emphasizes the scope of what is in store for the NDB: “During the meeting, it was noted that NDB’s strategic goal is to become the leading bank for emerging markets and developing countries, and with the expansion of its membership, NDB aims to bolster its role as a platform for wider collaboration between developing countries.”
Three days later, Rousseff addressed the 10th Arab-China Business Conference, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. She began by noting: “The theme of ‘Collaborating for Prosperity’ appropriately captures the more than two thousand years of commercial and cultural exchanges between China and Arab states. The cooperation along the silk road has witnessed the birth and development of two great civilizations—Chinese and Arab.”
She stressed that “the Arab world has been a very important region not only in terms of international trade, but also in science, technology and innovation,” and continued:
“An important step towards reshaping the global economy and reducing dependency on a single currency is the initiative of China buying oil from Saudi Arabia in Chinese yuan (RMB) and exploring alternative means of settlement, such as gold. This move towards a multi currency world contributes to a more balanced and multipolar financial landscape, reducing vulnerability to fluctuations, enhancing stability and expanding the international reach of local currencies.”
Rousseff cautioned that this transformation “is a long, gradual and complex process. It requires cooperation among countries, financial institutions and collaborative policies and organizations such as the Belt and Road Initiative, the New Development Bank and the Islamic Development Bank to give a few examples.” Rousseff later met with the President of the Islamic Development Bank.
She concluded: “May the cooperation between the Arab world and China continue to thrive for the benefit of the world at large.”
