The BRICS summit ended in Durban, South Africa, on Wednesday. The leaders of the group of five states (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) were unable to get out of the framework of dialogue and make a real move towards fulfilling the main task: creating a full-fledged mechanism of strategic interaction." They also failed in the attempt to launch a BRICS Development Bank in Durban, expected to undermine the global domination of the IMF and the World Bank.
The main result of the summit, aside from the two-day brain storm involving the BRICS leaders, ministers, business people and experts was a package of documents: the multi-party agreement on joint funding of infrastructure projects in Africa, the declaration on establishing a BRICS Business Council, the eThekwini declaration and the eThekwini action plan, the Kommersant writes.
The newspaper believes that turning BRICS into a key element of the global governance system remains a future task for the member states, a strategic objective for a medium or long-term period. Like the previous top-level meetings, the Durban summit was largely limited to the format of dialogue: its participants have not made any significant move to create "a full-format mechanism of strategic interaction," capable of real influence on the world economic situation.
The Development Bank project setback in Durban was proof that the BRICS states continue to find it very difficult to create real interaction mechanisms compared with the adoption of eye-catching declarations. The finance ministers were unable to come to terms either on the size of initial capital, the respective contributions by the BRICS states, management principles or the location of the headquarters.
According to the spokesman for the Russian president Dmitry Peskov, the details of the establishment of a BRICS Development Bank will be discussed at the next summit, the Nezavisimaya Gazeta underlined. There is little doubt that the Bank will eventually be established.
While the Development Bank is being established, the BRICS states will address the co-funding of infrastructure projects in African countries.
"Today at the summit, the development banks of our countries will sign an agreement to co-finance projects in the sphere of infrastructure and 'green energy," Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
The newspaper notes that the Durban summit will be remembered not only for official statements and meetings, but also for scandals. The South African security service distinguished itself by regularly shutting doors on Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, presidential aide Yuri Ushakov and press secretary Dmitry Peskov.