The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba, Bruno Rodríguez, defined today during the BRICS Ministerial Conference the association as a key actor in global geopolitics.
In his speech in the expanded session of the meeting, Cuba’s foreign minister praised the necessary and strategic expansion of the group that currently has 10 members (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia and Iran), which represents more than 45 percent of the world’s population and a third of global GDP.
“The world urgently needs a new civilized coexistence, where solidarity, cooperation and integration between countries prevail. The BRICS can make a significant contribution to this historic demand of the South, particularly on the path towards the necessary reform of the current international financial system, which is deeply unjust, undemocratic, speculative and exclusive,” he highlighted.
Likewise, he argued that in the face of the current international food crisis, the action of the BRICS in agricultural development and food production would be crucial.
In this sense, Rodríguez added that the group’s contribution also applies to the use and generation of energy from renewable sources in development projects, “an issue of vital importance for Southern countries.”
“The promotion of cooperation in this area would contribute to developing cleaner and more durable generation systems and would guarantee stability in such a sensitive sector for development,” he argued. In financial matters, the head of Foreign Affairs of Cuba praised the strength that constitutes the New Development Bank of the Brics, as it is committed to indigenous support, based on the use of its own national currencies.
“This institution has the potential to influence the transformations that need to be introduced in the current unjust and exclusive international financial architecture,” he stated.
In this regard, he stressed that this is also an important alternative and an opportunity for Southern countries, as it will allow them to access financial resources under more favorable conditions.
“The expansion of the membership of the New Development Bank will increase its international influence and will contribute to mobilizing funds in key areas for the development of the countries of the South,” stated the head of diplomacy of the Caribbean nation.
Along these lines, he assured that the bloc’s initiative to implement a broad-based currency reserve mechanism that guarantees certainty and stability to the South; as well as the establishment of reciprocal lines of credit in local currencies, “constitutes an important contribution to the design of a new and inclusive international financial architecture.”
In this regard, the Cuban foreign minister summarized that, by including new countries, the New Brics Development Bank would contribute to alleviating the imbalances of the current monetary system.
Which, in his opinion, maintains the dollar as an instrument of pressure and as a weapon to impose unilateral coercive measures that have a “very negative impact on the economy of many of our people,” he insisted.
Rodríguez thanked on behalf of the Cuban people and Government for the invitation to participate in the Brics Ministerial Council, held under the presidency of Russia.
