Making a strong pitch for speeding up the creation of a BRICS development bank, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said India hopes to ratify the agreement over the financial institution by year-end and 2016 should be set as the target for its inauguration.
“The historic 6th BRICS Summit in Fortaleza delivered the New Development Bank and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement. These signal our collective capacities to create and manage global institutions,” Modi said at an informal meeting of leaders of the five-nation BRICS bloc here.
“We propose that we should set the target of 2016 for inauguration of this Bank. We hope to ratify the agreement by the end of the year. We would soon nominate our candidate for the post of the Presidency,” Modi said, making a strong pitch for the early operationalisation of the bank.
India will hold the Presidency of the USD 100 billion New Development Bank for the first six years.
The bank will be based in Shanghai, China’s financial hub.
India’s presidency will be followed by Brazil and Russia who will have five years term each under an agreement reached after intense negotiations among the five country-grouping BRICS — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
The decision to set up the bank and a USD 100 billion Currency Reserve Arrangement (CRA) that will help countries to deal with short-term liquidity pressures, was made at the 6th BRICS Summit held in the Brazilian city of Fortaleza in July.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and South African President President Jacob Zuma attended the informal meeting along with Prime Minister Modi on the sidelines of the G20 summit here.
Modi said that the bank and the CRA can be effective in promoting sustainable development and bridge infrastructure gaps.
“These measures send a strong message to the rest of the world about the efficacy of BRICS,” he said in his speech delivered in English.
“We can be more aligned to local conditions and requirements. We should focus on next generation infrastructure. We can promote new models of governance and financing, while maintaining the highest banking standards,” Modi said.
“We should also make it more participatory. We need to work towards their early implementation,” he said.
Talking about the CRA, the Prime Minister said it is a “very timely” initiative. He said the work on the re-insurance pool among BRICS is also a welcome one.
“We hope that our officials will be able to come up with a concrete proposal by the next year,” Modi said.
At G20, Modi talks reforms, seeks black money cooperation-Hindustan Times 15th November 14
Prime Minister Narendra Modi brought to the world stage his promise to bring back black money stashed abroad, pitching for global cooperation to tackle the menace at his first G20 summit on Saturday.He told G20 leaders as well as heads of the five-nation BRICS bloc that “repatriation” of black money is his government’s priority and sent a message that economic reforms for tangible growth should be “people-centric and people-driven” and insulated from politics.
Modi underscored the security and economic challenges that slush funds pose to the international community and sought close coordination among the nations to achieve the objective of bringing back home Indian slush money kept hidden abroad.
“Repatriation of black money kept abroad is a key priority for us,” said the Prime Minister, one of the most sought-after leaders at the summit, who stood next to British premier David Cameron at the customary photo-op in a bandhgala with a pink pocket square masking the grey.
External affairs ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said it was the first
time that the “security dimensions” of black money have been brought to focus.
Modi’s pitch was in line with summit host Australia’s promise for a “very
aggressive” crackdown on tax avoidance, which goes with India seeking strong
action by the G20 nations against tax havens.
The two-day summit is being held at a time tax avoidance by multinational companies were reportedly organising tax-lowering deals with Luxembourg and pressure from anti-corruption advocates, urging the major economies to stem the flow of slush funds across borders.
Later in the day, Modi told fellow G20 leaders at a retreat hosted by his Australian counterpart Tony Abbott that economic reforms were handicapped by the perception of being government programmes and a burden on the people. He said this needs to change.
“Reform is bound to face resistance ... (it) must be insulated from political pressure,” Modi said and pointed out that it cannot be undertaken by “stealth”.
His comments in Brisbane come days before the start of the winter session of Parliament in which key but controversial legislations on opening up the pension and insurance sectors are expected to be taken up.
Modi also called for a common strategy to tackle global terrorism at meetings with French president Francois Hollande and Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper on the sidelines of the summit.
He told both leaders that religion should be delinked from terrorism.
Host Abbott got a Modi “jhappi” (hug) that the Australian media described as the “standout shake” of the summit — distinct from the formal handshakes.
The Australian leader posted a photo of Modi sharing a lighter moment with US President Barack Obama and himself during the retreat. “The BBQ lunch with @narendramodi and @BarackObama was an opportunity for #G20 Leaders to talk in a relaxed atmosphere,” Abbott posted.
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