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On the Russian side, the meeting was attended by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office, Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for Financial and Economic Cooperation with BRICS States and Interaction with the New Development Bank Maxim Oreshkin, Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov, Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov, Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina, and Director of the Latin America Department at the Foreign Ministry Alexander Shchetinin.

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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Ms Rousseff, colleagues,

We are delighted to welcome you.

Our previous meeting took place in June of this year in St Petersburg, on the sidelines of the International Economic Forum, where we deliberated on matters pertaining to the future operations of the Bank.

We hold in high regard the accomplishments you have achieved in recent years. It is, indeed, a strong, evolving and promising financial institution. Since 2018, the Bank has funded about one hundred projects, amounting to a total of $33 billion. The increase in the share of settlements denominated in national currencies helps reduce debt servicing costs, strengthen the financial independence of BRICS states, and minimise geopolitical risks, that is, free economic development from political influence, as much as possible in today’s world.

As the BRICS chair this year, we anticipate your active engagement in the leaders' meeting at the BRICS summit in Kazan. As you are aware, your meeting with the leaders and your presentation on the Bank's operations are also scheduled.

Welcome.

President of the New Development Bank Dilma Rousseff (retranslated): Thank you very much, Mr President.

It is a great pleasure for me to be here with the leadership of the Russian Federation.

I believe that this BRICS meeting is of significant importance. At present, the countries of the Global South are in considerable need of financial resources, and the conditions for securing such resources are rather challenging.

As you have noted, we have indeed implemented and allocated a substantial amount of funds towards a variety of projects. However, this remains insufficient relative to the needs of the Global South. Therefore, it is crucial to provide funding in national currencies and in specialised formats. The New Development Bank is dedicated to this endeavour, funding not only sovereign projects but also private initiatives.

We are currently observing the BRICS group advancing through a new stage of its maturation. I am of the view that BRICS can also encompass additional countries from the Global South, enabling us to identify new areas and domains for cooperation. In this context, both the expansion of BRICS and our emphasis on ensuring the necessary financial resources for projects in the countries of the Global South are of paramount importance.

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