New Delhi: India on Tuesday said that it will not pursue any agenda for expansion of Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS) bloc during the upcoming summit in July in Brazil. Noting that the interest of Argentine and various other countries to join BRICS is well-known, official sources said currently there was no proposal in any way on the agenda of the BRICS to expand its membership.
They also dismissed as "speculative" the reports that India was in talks with Brazil and South Africa and supporting Argentina's bid to join the BRICS grouping. "There is no consideration at the present juncture of any expansion of the BRICS. New Delhi is not thinking of BRICS expansion during the forthcoming summit in Fortaleza, Brazil, scheduled for 15th July 2014.
Hence there is no intention at all amongst Indian officials to pursue the agenda of expansion of the BRICS," the sources said. The BRICS countries are currently working on setting up a BRICS development bank as an alternative to the Western-dominated World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The idea was proposed by India at a 2012 meeting of the organisation's finance ministers in Mexico.
The grouping, an association of five major emerging national economies, had its first summit in 2009 in Russia. As of 2013, the five BRICS countries represent almost 3 billion people, with a combined nominal GDP of nearly $16 trillion.
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