Modi to launch 1st multilateral engagement with BRICS leaders

Fortaleza (

), Jul 14: Prime Minister

will launch his first multilateral engagement with

leaders, giving top priority for the establishment of the BRICS development bank with equal share holding for all the five members.

India is keen on the issue of equal share holding since it doesn't want a repeat of the distortions that have crept into Bretton Woods institutions like IMF, World Bank and the Asian Development Bank in which rich countries like the US and Japan have a strangle hold. Ahead of the BRICS Summit tomorrow in this north eastern coastal city, Modi will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines to discuss the issue relating to the New Development Bank.

He will also discuss the possible outcomes of the summit on other issues like reforms of the UN Security Council and international financial architecture. Sources said India's primary goal is equal shareholding for all the members -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The BRICS Development bank, an idea which was conceived in Delhi in 2012 and approved in Durban last year, is to be set up with an initial corpus of USD 50 billion, with scope for expansion upto USD 100 billion when new members are added.

For the initial USD 50 billion, India wants equal contribution by all the five members of USD 10 billion. This is because India doesn't want the development bank to fall into the ownership pattern of IMF and WB, with a distorted share holding.

PTI