Opening Statement by Prime Minister at BRICS Leaders' Meeting in Brisbane, Australia (November 15, 2014)

Opening Statement by Prime Minister at BRICS Leaders' Meeting in Brisbane, Australia (November 15, 2014)

Your Excellency President Dilma Rousseff,

Your Excellency President Vladimir Putin,

Your Excellency President Xi Jinping,

Your Excellency President Jacob Zuma,

I wish to join my other colleagues and congratulate President Dilma Rousseff on her re-election as the President of Brazil.

From Brazil to Brisbane, it has been most successful journey under your leadership.

Our group will continue to benefit from your visionary leadership.

I would also like to thank President Rousseff for hosting today's meeting.

The historic 6th BRICS Summit in Fortaleza delivered - the New Development Bank and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement.

These signal our collective capacities to create and manage global institutions.

These can be effective in promoting sustainable development and bridge infrastructure gaps. We can be more aligned to local conditions and requirements. We should focus on next generation infrastructure.

We can promote new models of governance and financing, while maintaining the highest banking standards. We should also make it more participatory.

We need to work towards their early implementation.

We propose that we should set the target of 2016 for inauguration of this Bank.

We hope to ratify the agreement by the end of the year. We would soon nominate our candidate for the post of the Presidency.

The Contingent Reserve Arrangement is also a very timely initiative.

The work on the Reinsurance pool among BRICS is also a welcome one. We hope that our officials will be able to come up with a concrete proposal by the next year.

These measures send a strong message to the rest of the world about the efficacy of BRICS.

Besides these, we have started work on many other proposals that would deepen our relations and enhance our cooperation in all spheres.

Thank You.