India's prime minister has highlighted the need in developing countries to find funding, at the summit of the so-called BRICS nations — the world's five largest emerging economies.
Speaking in New Delhi, Thursday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the leaders and delegates were discussing how to expand the World Bank's capital base, as well as a proposal to create a new development bank, funded and led by the five BRICS nations: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
The BRICS countries represent 40 percent of the world's population. The bank would provide mutual credit and investment opportunities for members and other developing nations without having to depend on Western institutions.
Rajiv Biswas, chief economist for IHS Global Insight in Singapore, told VOA Thursday such a bank could help offset some of the impact of the European debt crisis.
“I don't think it necessarily has to be competing with the World Bank. I think at the moment the issue is having sufficient funding for the rapid growth in developing countries in terms of trade and investment at a time when most of the concerns about the deleveraging going on in the European banking system.”
He says creating a development bank would be a significant accomplishment for a group that has previously stopped short of tangible action.
“I think for the first time that's creating some kind of action plan that's implementable, whereas in the past many of these meetings have been talk shops without any tangible outcomes.”
The summit participants are also expected to address topics ranging from global security to increased financial cooperation.
Meanwhile, protests against Chinese-rule in Tibet are creating a shadow over the meeting, the group's fourth annual summit.
Tibetans who live in India along with their exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, took to the streets of New Delhi this week to air their grievances against Chinese rule. The issue is one that India and China pointedly avoid in all their public discussions, and analysts say they remain unlikely to address it as they meet in New Delhi.
