BRICS inks three pacts, defers on credit rating agency

The BRICS on Sunday inked three pacts, but deferred signing of another for setting up its own credit rating agency.

The five-nation bloc comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa concluded its eighth summit in Goa, inking two Memorandums of Understanding – one for establishment of a BRICS Agricultural Research Platform, while the other for setting up a mechanism for mutual cooperation between diplomatic academies of the member nations. The third pact is intended to frame regulations for customs cooperation among the BRICS nations.

The much-anticipated pact for setting up a BRICS credit rating agency was, however, deferred. Ahead of the summit, the BRICS credit rating agency was billed to be among the big-ticket outcomes of the conclave.

China, however, was not ready to sign the agreement for setting it up immediately and argued that the experts needed to study if a credit rating agency set up by the governments would be credible enough, sources told the DH.

The BRICS leaders, however, discussed the proposal during the summit and Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that they had agreed to fast track the setting up of a BRICS rating agency in order to further bridge the gap in the global financial architecture.

“Putting the global economy back on track was another focus point of our deliberations,” the prime minster said in a press statement issued after the summit.

“We feel that it is necessary for economies to make public investments in long term infrastructure projects, coordinate macro-economic policy, drive growth, and promote world trade and manufacturing with renewed vigour,” he added. BRICS also acknowledged the need to strike a balance between economic development and environmental protection.

The Goa Declaration noted that the global economic recovery was progressing, with improved resilience and emergence of new sources of growth.