Georgetown : Guyana will be joining other Union of South American (UNASUR) member states in attending a high-level summit with Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) group of emerging industrial nations, in Fortaleza, Brazil.
According to President Donald Ramotar, Guyana will be using this opportunity on July 15 and 16, in an effort to establish global economic relations to explore new means of greater cooperation with these member states. “One of the meetings that we have is with UNASUR and the BRICS countries… and I think it’s going to be looking, exploring areas where we can have greater cooperation with our country.’
The Fortaleza Summit is the first such meeting between BRICS and UNASUR, and its agenda is “social inclusion and sustainable development.” The conversation of the Summit will be based on the theme, “Inclusive growth: sustainable solutions.”
President Ramotar added that UNASUR and BRICS share a good relationship, and that the latter has indicated that it has plans for the establishment of another developmental bank, which will provide more opportunities for countries.
“…If you also have another such institution, then I think that third world countries like ours can only benefit from that type of thing.”
Guyana has immensely benefited from closer bilateral relations with the BRICS nations, especially China and India; primarily, in the areas of capacity building, economics, and cultural relations.
The President also pointed out that Guyana has been working with the Inter- American Development Bank (IDB), the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the World Bank among other institutions, and has thus far managed to maintain a good relationship, while noting that this initiative will only provide greater assistance for countries such as Guyana.
This summit is expected to conclude the finalisation of the US$100 billion New Development Bank (NDB), along with the launching of other much-anticipated initiatives, including a US$100 billion Contingency Reserve Arrangement (CRA).
President Ramotar also highlighted that among issues to be discussed are those that can provide mutual benefits to Guyana and other member states.
“We will give our ideas on how we think many of these countries can work better to maximise some of their presence in some of our areas, and we also have issues of mutual benefits to our countries,” he noted.
The Head of State emphasised that he is eager to meet with the other counterparts who will be present at the meeting. “We have had very good relationships, also with many of these countries in the past and I’m looking forward for the opportunity for meeting the Heads of States of many of the countries that are there,” he said.
The BRICS represent almost three billion people in the world’s developing or newly, emerging economies, and has a combined nominal Gross Domestic Product of US$16 Trillion, and an estimated US$4 Trillion in combined foreign reserves.
UNASUR, which was created in 2008, is a multilateral organisation with has membership from 12 of the 13 nations in South America.
Last year, the BRICS Summit was held in Durban, South Africa.
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