BRICS must increase competitiveness: China top lawmaker
June 9, 2015, 4:10 am

Zhang Dejiang chairman of the Standing Committee of the Chinese Parliament (seen here 3rd from right) at the BRICS Parliament forum in Moscow, Russia on 8 June 2015 [Image: BRICS2015.ru]

Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the Standing Committee of the Chinese Parliament or National People’s Congress (NPC), said on Monday in Moscow that these economies must increase competitiveness.

“We must strive for moving towards the creation of a single market in trade and economic cooperation, the creation of a multi-level mechanism of currency agreements, new infrastructure projects and strengthening cooperation on the basis of the people’s support. The key tools here include the BRICS Bank and the BRICS reserve currencies pool,” said Dejiang.

He was addressing the first BRICS parliamentary forum in Moscow.

More than a hundred lawmakers from the five countries have gathered in Moscow to discuss cooperation in trade and global affairs.

Between 2002 and 2012, intra-BRICS trade increased 922 per cent, the joint Fortaleza declaration said at the end of the Summit last year in Brazil.

The 7^th BRICS Summit in Ufa will announce the launch of the $100 billion New Development Bank and the $100 billion contingency reserve fund.

Ahead of the summit, the Indian government last month announced the appointment of Indian banker Kundapur Vaman Kamath as president of the Bank.

The BRICS combined GDP grew 300 per cent in the last decade as opposed to 60 per cent growth registered by the developed world.

Meanwhile, in neighbouring Germany, G7 leaders, during an ongoing summit, claimed they had “isolated” Russia.

“Does he continue to wreck his country’s economy and continue Russia’s isolation in pursuit of a wrong-headed desire to recreate the glories of the Soviet empire? Or does he recognise that Russia’s greatness does not depend on violating the territorial integrity and sovereignty of other countries?” said US president Barack Obama referring his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

German chancellor Angela Merkel said the G7 leaders were prepared to sharpen sanctions against Russia, but she hoped the situation in Ukraine would not worsen.

TBP and Agencies