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☆ Brazil's Lula says 'neither Putin nor Zelenskiy ready for peace'
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Lisandra Paraguassu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Ueslei MarcelinoBRASILIA, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said his country is working for peace in Ukraine but neither its leader nor Russia's are prepared to talk peace. "Neither Putin nor Zelenskiy are ready," Lula told foreign correspondents in a news conference, adding that peace proposals he is seeking with other countries will be ready when Russia and Ukraine are willing to negotiate. Lula has tried to form a group of neutral countries to get peace talks going. Lula said the G7 group of advanced economies should no longer exist since the creation of the larger G20 group of leading and emerging economies. Lula said the BRICS group of emerging economies should allow new members "as long as they meet the requirements."

Persons: Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Ueslei Marcelino BRASILIA, Putin, Lula, Anthony Boadle, Mark Porter, David Gregorio Our Organizations: REUTERS, Ueslei, Security, . Security, United Arab Emirates, New Development Bank, International Monetary Fund, Thomson Locations: Brasilia, Brazil, Ukraine, Russia, United States, Iraq, France, England, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Argentina

☆ The BRICS are better off disbanding than expanding
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-31 | by ( Hugo Dixon | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

(South Africa wasn’t on his list.) O’Neill likes to tease the BRICS that their economic performance subsequently went downhill - particularly after the much smaller South Africa joined in 2011. Since then, Russia, Brazil and South Africa have all struggled economically. The fault line between India and China, which fought a small war in the Himalayas in 2020, is one reason the BRICS club has done so little. Besides, most developing countries don’t want to be forced to choose sides in a showdown with the United States.

Persons: Jim O’Neill, Goldman Sachs, O’Neill, Vladimir Putin, Peter Thal Larsen, Thomas Shum Organizations: Reuters, Africa wasn’t, Reuters Graphics Reuters, New Development Bank, Bank, Global, U.S ., Thomson Locations: TINOS, GREECE, Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Johannesburg, Africa, Africa’s, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Egypt, Iran, Cuba, Kazakhstan, United States, Iraq, Republic, Ukraine, Russian, New Delhi, Soviet, Philippines, Mexico, Indonesia, Thailand, Nigeria, Vietnam, Malaysia, Bangladesh

☆ Even a Russian-cofounded bank can't fund new projects in the country — and it shows just how financially isolated the country is
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

"Any speculations concerning the discussion of new operations of the NDB in Russia are unfounded," the development bank said in a Wednesday statement. The Shanghai-headquartered NDB was founded in 2015 by the "BRICS" nations — that's Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. She said the bank is not considering new projects in Russia as it operates in compliance with international financial and capital restrictions. On Wednesday, she also met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin said in a statement. Mere days after it invaded Ukraine, some Russian banks were banned from SWIFT, the Belgium-based messaging service that lets banks globally communicate about cross-border transactions.

Persons: —, Dilma Rousseff, Rousseff, Vladimir Putin, Putin Organizations: New Development Bank, Twitter, Kremlin, SWIFT Locations: Russia, Shanghai, Brazil, India, China, South Africa, Russian, St, Petersburg, Ukraine, Belgium

☆ BRICS bank NDB says not considering new projects in Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SAO PAULO, July 26 (Reuters) - The New Development Bank (NDB), the multilateral bank set up by the BRICS states, is not considering new projects in Russia as it operates in line with restrictions imposed in financial and capital markets, its head said on Wednesday. Dilma Rousseff said in a statement posted on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that any speculations concerning the discussion of new operations of the bank in Russia were "unfounded". BRICS countries, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, are scheduled to gather in the African country next month. The BRICS group of emerging countries launched the Shanghai-headquartered bank in 2015. Rousseff was appointed to head it earlier this year by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Persons: Dilma Rousseff, Rousseff, Vladimir Putin, Putin, Cyril Ramaphosa, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Gabriel Araujo, Steven Grattan Organizations: SAO PAULO, New Development Bank, South, United Arab, Thomson Locations: Russia, Brazil, Africa, St . Petersburg, India, China, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, Bangladesh, Egypt, Shanghai

☆ S&P Global's top economist sees dollar dominance diminishing
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, July 11 (Reuters) - The dollar's grip as the dominant global currency is loosening, credit rating agency S&P Global's top economist said on Tuesday. The dollar "doesn't have quite the pull it used to," Paul Gruenwald, S&P's chief economist, said at a conference hosted by the ratings firm in London. Gruenwald pointed to a number of examples where countries were now circumventing the dollar: "We've got other things happening outside of the dollar world". "The U.S. (dollar) will continue to be a leading world currency, (but) it will no longer be the dominant world currency," Gruenwald said. Reporting by Libby George; Editing by Marc Jones and Alexander SmithOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Paul Gruenwald, We've, Gruenwald, Libby George, Marc Jones, Alexander Smith Organizations: Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, New Development Bank, Thomson Locations: London, China

☆ A China-based bank that's trying to de-dollarize global lending is now having trouble repaying its dollar debts, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( Filip De Mott | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The New Development Bank is having trouble finding dollar funds to repay debts, the Wall Street Journal said. But its own finances were deeply reliant on Wall Street, which backed away after the Ukraine war. Based in Shanghai, the New Development Bank has largely ceased issuing new loans, the report said. But to provide capital to developing economies, the New Development Bank had to borrow from Wall Street as well as Chinese lenders. The New Development Bank did not respond immediately to Insider's request for comment.

Persons: —, Dilma Rousseff Organizations: New Development Bank, Wall Street Journal, Service, Wall Street, International Monetary Fund Locations: Ukraine, Shanghai, Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Moscow, Russian, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Honduras, Beijing

☆ China’s world banks are geopolitical victims
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Una Galani | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

MUMBAI, June 15 (Reuters Breakingviews) - China’s “World Bank” tried in vain to carefully thread the geopolitical needle. Fairly or not, critics have lambasted China’s lending practices along the BRI as “debt trap diplomacy”. Whereas the smaller AIIB did things more the way developed countries wanted, even taking positions at odds with Beijing’s. Pickard alleged on Twitter that AIIB was an instrument of China, dominated by Communist party members who “operate like a secret police”. The AIIB said the comments by Pickard, who had served in his role since March 2022, were “baseless and disappointing”.

Persons: Bank ”, Bob Pickard, Jin Liqun, Pickard, AIIB, Chrystia Freeland, Pete Sweeney, Thomas Shum Organizations: Reuters, Bank, Infrastructure Investment Bank, Twitter, Communist Party, World Bank, Initiative, Beijing, International Monetary Fund, New Development Bank, Canadian, Communist, Department of Finance, Finance, Thomson Locations: MUMBAI, Canada, Beijing, India, France, Asia, Africa, Latin America, Argentina, Pakistan, Russia, Ukraine, China, Ottawa, Shanghai, Saudi Arabia

☆ BRICS ministers put on show of strength as Putin arrest warrant looms large
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Wendell Roelf | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"The answer is the president (Cyril Ramaphosa) will indicate what the final position of South Africa is. At a news conference later, the ministers side-stepped a barrage of questions about the Putin issue. The ICC accused Putin in March of the war crime of forcibly deporting children from Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine. South Africa had invited Putin in January. The BRICS bloc "was inclusive ... in sharp contrast to some countries' small circle, and so I believe the enlargement of BRICS will be beneficial to the BRICS countries," he said.

Persons: Putin, Naledi Pandor, Vladimir Putin, Pandor, Cyril Ramaphosa, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Ma Zhaoxu, Hossein Amir, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, Carien du Plessis, Anait, Bhargav Acharya, Nellie Peyton, Alexander Winning, Estelle Shirbon, Joe Bavier, John Stonestreet, Ros Russell, Andrew Heavens Organizations: West, International Criminal Court, ICC, United Nations Security Council, New Development Bank, China's, BRICS, Iran's, Saudi, United, Thomson Locations: Cape Town, Africa, South Africa, Johannesburg, Brazil, Russia, India, China, Ukraine, Moscow, Beijing, Venezuela, Argentina, Algeria, United Arab Emirates

☆ BRICS ministers meet in push to establish group as counterweight to West
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Wendell Roelf | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

South African authorities confirmed that foreign ministers from Brazil, Russia, India, and South Africa are attending Thursday's meeting in Cape Town. Amid the growing geopolitical polarisation resulting from the war in Ukraine, BRICS leaders have said they are open to admitting new members, including oil producing countries. South Africa, though the bloc's smallest member, is among its biggest champions. As an ICC member South Africa would face pressure to arrest Putin, were he to attend the meeting in Johannesburg. "Obviously, the best solution for South Africa is if Putin decided not to come."

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Putin, van Staden, William Gumede, Nic Borain, Wendell Roelf, Carien du, Joe Bavier, Grant McCool Organizations: BRICS, Criminal Court, South African Institute of International Affairs, New Development Bank, South, United, ICC, Independent, Thomson Locations: Ukraine, August CAPE, South Africa, Johannesburg, Moscow, Brazil, Russia, India, Cape Town, China, Beijing, South African, Venezuela, Argentina, Iran, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, African, . South Africa, Africa, Pretoria, Carien du Plessis

☆ Saudi is a BRIC in crumbling East-West money wall
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MUMBAI, May 29 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Middle East money is the answer to plugging the growing financial gaps created in Asia by Western investment restrictions, or at least that’s the very wishful thinking of the regions’ financiers and governments. Even if the NDB might have teamed up with Saudi regardless of sanctions on Russia, any deal will be high on symbolism. It makes sense for petrodollar countries to look East given Asia’s growing oil demand. Bankers also want Middle East companies to come and list in Hong Kong as those from elsewhere stay away and economists believe Middle East funds will step up investments into China as global funds retreat. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

☆ World leaders are lining up to meet Xi Jinping. Should the US be worried?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Simone Mccarthy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Hong Kong CNN —Xi Jinping has had a busy couple of weeks. “(Chinese leaders) believe it’s time now for China to make its strategic plans,” said Li Mingjiang, an associate professor of international relations at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University. Beijing has watched uneasily as the war in Ukraine has driven the US and its European allies closer. When French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Beijing last week, Xi drew comparisons between China and France: both “major countries with a tradition of independence,” Xi said, and “firm advocates for a multi-polar world” – or a world without a dominant superpower. But how Beijing navigates these initiatives, observers say, comes down to a bottom line that’s integrally related to Xi’s global ambitions and world view.

"I am convinced that both Ukraine and Russia are waiting for someone else to say, 'Let's sit down and talk,'" Lula told journalists last week. Lula has suggested a peace solution could be the return of newly invaded territory, though not Crimea - an option that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has rejected outright. For his initiative to advance, Lula needs China to send a message to Russia, said a European diplomat in Brasilia. Some 20 agreements to be signed include creation of a sixth satellite in a joint program started in 1988, which will be used for monitoring the Amazon, Brazil's foreign ministry said. China overtook the United States as Brazil's top trading partner in 2009 and is a major market for Brazilian soybeans, iron ore and oil.

☆ Brazil's Lula reschedules China trip, will meet Xi on April 14 in Beijing
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BRASILIA, March 31 (Reuters) - Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on April 14 in Beijing, his office said on Friday, rescheduling a visit that was postponed last week after he was diagnosed with a mild pneumonia last week. Lula will leave for China on April 11 and intends to stick to the original agenda, including the signing of some 20 agreements with Brazil's largest trading partner. The trip's aim is to upgrade relations with China now that Lula is back in office and seek new Chinese investment in the Latin American country. It will still be a state visit, with meetings with Xi, the Chinese Prime Minister, Li Qiang, and an event at the National People's Assembly, Lula's presidential office said. Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu Editing by Frances KerryOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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