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Russia hosts first BRIC summit
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-06-16 16:56 YEKATERINBURG - The world's biggest emerging market powers will seek to craft a united front on repairing the global financial system when they meet for the first formal BRIC summit on Tuesday.
"These four countries are all quite influential in international economic development, and I think if in the meeting they raise some proposals and initiatives, that would be fair and reasonable," said Wu Hailong, a senior Chinese Foreign Ministry official. "Especially, some countries have proposed establishing a super-sovereign currency, and I think their impetus is ensuring the security of each country's foreign currency reserves." Chinese and Russian officials have in recent days played down talk of a discussion on a new supranational reserve currency to reduce dependency on the U.S. dollar. The BRIC term was coined by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill in 2001 to describe the growing power of emerging market economies. Tuesday's summit in the Russian Urals city of Yekaterinburg marks a step towards cohesion as a group. |