THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The decision of the 15th summit of BRICS to invite Saudi Arabia, Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt, Argentina and the United Arab Emirates into the club could accelerate economic growth among the member nations provided consensus is reached on many key issues, former diplomat T P Sreenivasan has said.
He was speaking after inaugurating a seminar on ‘The significance of the 15th BRICS Summit’ organised by the Russian House in Thiruvananthapuram.
“BRICS nations have a long way to go to transform themselves into a unified global organisation that can effectively challenge the present polarisation in the world economy,” Sreenivasan said.
BRICS was founded as an alternative to global bodies viewed as dominated by the traditional Western powers. “But to unlock benefits including development finance, and increased trade, the member nations need to reach consensus on many issues existing in today’s geopolitical situation,” he said.
Banking and finance expert S Adikesavan said that trade balance was crucial to achieving a more integrated BRICS. The global body’s effectiveness is affected by the imbalance of interest among member nations in terms of their respective national incomes. Also, the New Development Bank of the BRICS countries is yet to attain global scale, said Adikesavan. “We should also aim to build a durable and sustainable settlement mechanism for the heightened Russia-India trade,” he said.
Director of the Capital Centre of the Central University of Kerala, P Anilkumar, welcomed the gathering. Honorary Consul of the Russian Federation and director of the Russian House in Thiruvananthapuram Ratheesh C Nair presided over.