BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Wednesday that it is time for the BRICS nations to create new payment methods between them, adding that the group’s New Development Bank was designed as an alternative to what he called failing Bretton Woods institutions.
“It’s not about replacing our currencies, but we need to work so that the multipolar order we aim for is reflected in the international financial system,” Lula told the BRICS summit via video conference, after a head injury over the weekend forced him to cancel his trip to Kazan, Russia.
“This discussion needs to be faced with seriousness, caution and technical soundness, but it cannot be postponed any longer.”
The Brazilian president added that the BRICS’ initiatives move away from a context in which emerging and developing economies fund the developed world, and also underscored the bloc’s relevance in global economic growth.
Lula reiterated his calls for peace talks between Russia and Ukraine and called Israel’s war on Gaza a “foolishness now spreading to the West Bank and Lebanon.”
The BRICS diplomatic forum, founded 15 years ago by major emerging markets Brazil, Russia, India, China has since expanded to include South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been pushing to build up the BRICS as a powerful counterweight to the West in global politics and trade.
(Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu; Writing by Luana Maria Benedito; Editing by Alison Williams)