BRICS bank to designate 15 billion euros to economic recovery

Moscow, Apr 28 (efe-epa) .- The New Development Bank (NDB) established by BRICS countries Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, is to designate 15 billion dollars to economic recovery projects, the Foreign Minister of Russia Sergey Lavrov reported on Tuesday.

The head of Russian diplomacy announced the decision after a video conference with his BRICS counterparts in which they coordinated measures to confront the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We have discussed the work of the BRICS NBD and we have decided to create a special credit instrument to finance economic recovery projects in the countries. We expect to allocate up to 15 billion dollars for these purposes,” Lavrov said.

In his opinion, the aid will be a “good contribution” to the recovery and reactivation of the BRICS’ economies.

Lavrov said the ministers had agreed on the need to start the development and use of vaccines, including those against infections caused by many coronaviruses, a task the group had already considered in 2018.

“Today we analysed the situation and we decided to underline the need to implement the agreement and create this mechanism as soon as possible, which does not yet function,” he explained.

Lavrov said that the BRICS foreign ministers had agreed that unilateral sanctions, imposed on the fringes of the UN, were an obstacle in the fight against the pandemic and, therefore, should be lifted.

The Russian minister said that Tuesday’s video conference was not a substitute for the group’s meeting of foreign heads, which is scheduled for June, although he acknowledged the encounter could yet be postponed because of global pandemic.

The summit of the leaders of the BRICS countries is scheduled for mid-July in Saint Petersburg, a date that, at the moment, has not been changed.EFE/EPA

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