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President Putin: Development Bank and BRICS foreign currency reserves pool are underway

“In the near future, we expect to finalise all the remaining issues and we will be able to use this Bank's potential to realise major projects in our countries”, - said Vladimir Putin

MOSCOW, July 15, /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin expects BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) to create not only the Development Bank, but also foreign currency reserves pool.

“In the near future, we expect to finalise all the remaining issues and we will be able to use this Bank's potential to realise major projects in our countries”, he told Itar-Tass in an interview ahead of the BRICS summit.

President said that creation of a BRICS pool of foreign currency reserves was also underway. He called it ‘a safety net’ that would help form a joint response to economic challenges.

“Our initiative to establish the Development Bank is aimed at expanding cooperation in this sphere”, he said, as he believes that all the BRICS economies need serious infrastructure modernisation.

He emphasized that both the Development Bank and the foreign currency reserves pool are practical steps for BRICS countries, intended to strengthen international financial architecture and to make it more balanced and just.

Earlier, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov told the media that an agreement on creation of the Development Bank and foreign currency reserves pool is ready to be signed at the BRICS summit in Brazilian resort Fortaleza on July 15-16. The Bank will be involved in infrastructure projects on the BRICS nations’ soil in the first place. The authorized, dedicated and paid in capitals will amount to 100, 50 and 10 billion U.S. dollars respectively. The latter will be formed within seven years.