Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, led the Indian delegation to the 6^th BRICS Summit held in Brazil on 15-16 July 2014.

Major outcomes of the 6^th BRICS Summit include signing of an Agreement setting up a New Development Bank and signing of a Treaty setting up the Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA), which will work as a multilateral currency swap amongst BRICS Central Banks. MoS (IC) for Commerce and Industry signed these documents on behalf of India.

An MoU on technical cooperation amongst Export Credit Guarantee Agencies of BRICS countries aimed at improving environment for increasing trade opportunities among BRICS countries and an Inter-Bank Cooperation Agreement on Innovation to support financing of innovation projects of mutual interest were also signed at the Summit.

The Fortaleza Declaration issued at the conclusion of the Summit captures the discussions and consensus among the BRICS countries on a wide range of issues covering reform of global governance – both political and economic, trade, finance, regional political issues as well as global issues including WTO, terrorism, transnational organized crime, climate change, post-2015 development agenda, etc.

At the Summit India expressed support for an open, inclusive, efficient and rule-based global trading regime under the WTO that would address the aspirations of the developing countries and the special needs of the poor countries particularly in the area of food security.

The Fortaleza Declaration has endorsed that the work programme to be established after the 9^th  WTO Ministerial Meeting held in Bali must prioritise issues where legally binding outcomes could not be achieved including in public stockholding for food security purposes. A reference has also been made to the implementation of the Agreement on Trade Facilitation in the work programme. This clearly shows the balance and equity that been sought by BRICS Leaders in the implementation of the Bali Trade deal which in itself is a positive gain for developing countries. Relevant portion of Paragraph 21 of the Fortaleza Declaration which captures this position is reproduced below:

“…..we reaffirm our commitment to establish by the end of this year a post-Bali work program for concluding the Doha Round, based on the progress already made and in keeping with the mandate established in the Doha Development Agenda. We affirm that this work program should prioritize the issues where legally binding outcomes could not be achieved at MC9, including Public Stock-Holding for Food Security Purposes.”

This Information was given by the Minister of state in the Ministry of External Affairs and Overseas Indian Affairs Gen. (Retd.) Dr. V. K. Singh in Rajya Sabha today.

YSK/ Uma