5TH BRICS SUMMIT 2013: THE CREATION OF THE DEVELOPMENT BANK DISCUSSED
The 2013 BRICS Summit was the fifth annual BRICS Summit, an international relations conference attended by the head of states or heads of government of the five member states Brazil,Russia, India, China and South Africa. The Summit was held in Durban, South Africa in 2013. This completed the first cycle of BRICS Summits. A declaration at the end of 2012 BRICS Summit read that : "Brazil, Russia, India and China thank South Africa for the proposal to host the 5th summit in 2013. They intend to provide multifaceted support for it. An agreement, on the Radio Astron space satellite was signed between the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) and the Russian Federal Space Agency (Ros-cosmos) on the Margins of BRICS Summit on March 26, 2013 in Durban. The agreement paved the way for the two countries to work together on the development of science and space technologies. In 2006 the South African and Russian governments signed an agreement to cooperate on the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes. The agreement signed confirms a strategic role in the area of global space science and technology and also provides an opportunity to use space science and technology to contribute towards socio-economic development. As per the agreement, Roscosmos will provide the hardware for upgrading the tracking station (antenna) for compatibility with RadioAstron, while SANSA will install and maintain the upgraded hardware and operate the tracking station. The summit commenced on March 26. Amongst the important issues being discussed was the creation of the development bank, in follow up from the previous summit. It sought to create an infrastructure-focussed bank. The disputes over the bank were in regards to what it would do an how it would provide an equitable return on the initial investment of about US $ 10 bn. Host President Jacob Zuma said of the summit that it could address South Africa's economic problems, such as high unemployment. He added : "BRICS provides an opportunity for South Africa to promote its competitiveness. It is an opportunity to move further in our drive to promote economic growth and confont the challenge of poverty, inequality and unemployment that afflicts our country."
0 comments:
Post a Comment