Putin defends Dilma’s continued leadership of the BRICS bank

During the BRICS Summit, the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, defended the continuity of the Brazilian presidency of the New Development Bank (NDB).

Known as the Brics bank, it is commanded by the former president of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, who has a mandate until July 2025.

Putin understands that Dilma’s stay meets two criteria. The first converges on the Brazilian presidency of the group starting next year. The second, in the Russian’s understanding, is to prevent his country’s involvement in the war with Ukraine from interfering in the conduct of the bank’s work, in which his federation is very interested in prospering.

read more: Dilma and Putin discuss investments in the Global South

“We do not want to transfer all the problems that are associated with Russia to institutions in whose development we ourselves are interested. We will deal with our problems and take care of them ourselves,” Putin highlighted.

So far there is no information about the Bank president’s personal interest in continuing after the end of her term. She took office in March 2023, replacing former president Jair Bolsonaro’s nominee, Marcos Troyjo.

In any case, for Brazil it is extremely important to accept this deference for another 5 years on the Brics bench made by Putin, who would have primacy in choosing the established rotation.

On Tuesday (22), Putin and Dilma were together in a bilateral meeting. On the occasion, they discussed investments in the Global South and the actions of the bank, which has already financed more than 100 projects with an investment of more than US$33 billion since 2018.

BRICS currency

The following day, on Wednesday (23), Dilma spoke in Kazan. In his speech, he defended the use of other means for transactions that do not use the dollar. The debate about the creation of a currency for the BRICS, or the increase in payments for the currencies of the countries involved, gained prominence in the group’s discussions.

President Lula, who participated via videoconference, defended a common currency for negotiations and highlighted that it is not a question of replacing existing currencies, but rather “working so that the multipolar order we desire is reflected in the international financial system”.

read more: Dilma Rousseff is honored in China with the highest national honor

Dilma was more emphatic and classified the use of the dollar by the United States as a weapon. For the leader of the NDB, the USA privileges its companies to the detriment of emerging companies by blocking their growth through currency control.

The former president of Brazil also highlighted the growth of the group to expand the cooperation platform between the so-called Global South. In addition to the entry of Egypt, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Ethiopia with member countries along with the founders Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, the group invited 13 other nations to participate as associated partners: Algeria, Belarus, Cuba, Bolivia , Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Vietnam, Nigeria and Uganda.

*With information from Agência Brasil and CNN