Brazil, Russia want summit with India, China
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) — Russia and Brazil agreed Wednesday to meet with India and China next year to create a new global financial architecture — a reflection of how economic power is shifting from the United States and Europe.
Brazil, Russia, India and China — emerging markets collectively known as the BRIC nations — "represent a powerful force," President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said as he stood with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who agreed to host the 2009 summit.
Silva is pushing for big developing nations like Brazil to have a major role in drawing up new regulations for international finance and for a greater voice in the IMF and World Bank.
Medvedev said he and Silva discussed the creation of a "new financial architecture," Russia's ITAR-Tass news agency reported.
Silva and Medvedev did not say whether China and India have agreed to the summit, but finance minister of the four countries met on the sidelines of a G20 meeting in Sao Paulo that preceded their leaders' summit in Washington this month.
The two leaders also discussed increasing cooperation in energy, agriculture and railways, signed a military technology cooperation accord and agreed to cooperate on a satellite program. Russia has a satellite navigation system, and Brazil launches its own rockets from a base in northeastern Brazil.
On a Latin America trip full of symbols reflecting Russia's efforts to counter U.S. influence, Medvedev then left for Venezuela, where Russian warships are taking part in joint exercises in a show of military strength. It is Russia's first Caribbean deployment since the Cuban missile crisis, and Medvedev's visit to Caracas is the first by a Russian president.
The naval deployment is widely seen as a demonstration of Kremlin anger over the U.S. decision to send warships to deliver aid to Georgia after its battles with Russia, and over U.S. plans for a European missile-defense system.
Chavez backed Russia in its conflict with Georgia, and views the fellow oil producer as a key player in moving toward a world freed from U.S. dominance.
"It is clear that Medvedev is seeking to expand Russian influence in the Western Hemisphere, hoping to take advantage of his country's new energy-driven economic clout and lingering negative sentiment toward Bush administration policies during the U.S. political transition," according to a report by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
But the ability of Venezuela and Russia to aid other countries has been severely pinched by declining oil revenues since the world's financial crisis began.
And Russia has shown signs of trying to engage President-elect Barack Obama, as have Latin American leaders whose U.S. relations grew chilly during the administration of President George W. Bush.
"Venezuela holds a primarily economic importance for Russia, in terms of being a major military export destination," said analyst Anna Gilmour of Jane's Intelligence Review. But she said "Russia is not keen to align itself with Chavez' Bolivarian ideology and deliberately avoids making statements regarding political links."
The Russian business daily Vedomosti said in an editorial published Monday that the world financial crisis could even help Russia's weapons exports to Latin America because its products are cheaper than U.S. arms and would fit more easily into reduced military budgets.
"Paradoxically, the Russian arms industries could benefit from cuts in defense spending in some countries," it said.
