On March 18 at 14:00 Moscow Time (GMT+3), the Valdai Club will host an expert discussion dedicated to the financial settlements of the BRICS countries.
On January 1, 2024, the chairmanship of BRICS passed to Russia. The Russian Foreign Ministry noted that within the framework of the chairmanship, special emphasis will be placed on increasing the role of the BRICS states in the international monetary and financial system, as well as developing interbank cooperation with an emphasis on increasing settlements in national currencies.
The creation of new financial mechanisms via BRICS is already one of the promising avenues for the development of the association. Many points of the final declaration of the 15th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg were devoted to financial policy. In particular, the countries expressed the need for the BRICS Payment Task Force (BPTF) to prepare a report on payment mechanisms, including those based on cross-border payment systems. The importance of using national currencies in trade and financial transactions both within the BRICS and with other countries was emphasised. Particular attention was paid to strengthening correspondent banking relationships for settlements in national currencies. These issues should be worked out for the summit in Russia - it is expected that the finance ministers and heads of central banks of the BRICS countries will report on the results of their work in Kazan in 2024.
The countries emphasised the important role of the BRICS New Development Bank in the implementation of joint investment projects and the special importance of creating a Network of BRICS research centres in the field of finance, they expressed concern about the use of sanctions, and also supported free world trade as the fundamental role of the WTO. The countries of the association have set the main directions of BRICS work for the coming years, but the decisions of the summit in Russia are of particular interest, since new members of the association who joined on January 1, 2024, will meet there for the first time.
In what form are new settlement mechanisms possible within the BRICS framework? What problems may arise during the implementation of various financial projects? How universal can such mechanisms be? What factors will determine the competitiveness of new mechanisms? What can be done within the framework of the Russian presidency of BRICS to develop the initiative on new financial mechanisms? Participants in the discussion will try to answer these and other questions.
Speakers:
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Paulo Nogueira Batista Jr., Vice President of the New Development Bank (NDB) (2015-2017), Executive Director at the IMF (2007-2015)
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John Gong, Vice-President for Research and Strategy at the Israeli branch of the University of International Business and Economics, Expert at China Forum
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Arvind Gupta, Head and Co-Founder of Digital India Foundation
- Ibrahim Karsany, Economic Consultant, Dubai Public Policy Research Centre
Moderator:
- Ivan Timofeev, Programme Director of the Valdai Discussion Club
Working languages: Russian, English.
Information for the media: Dear journalists, to be accredited for the event, please fill out the form on our website. If you have any questions about the event, call +79269307763.
Links to the live broadcast of the discussion will be posted on all online platforms of the Valdai Club: on the website, X (formerly Twitter), VKontakte, Telegram and Dzen.
