BRICS News

Brazil’s Central Bank is expected to continue monetary easing policy into 2018 [Xinhua]
Brazilian Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles has hailed recent economic activity data as a sign that the country is solidly moving out of recession.
The Central Bank’s IBC-Br index rose 1.31 per cent in February, the bank said Monday.
It also revised January economic activity up 0.62 per cent.
Meirelles says the latest data indicates the Brazilian economy will show
“meaningful growth rate” by the end of 2017.

World powers accuse North Korea of pursuing a nuclear and ballistic weapons program in violation of UN sanctions [Xinhua]
China and the United States are to work closer together regarding the North Korean missile crisis according to a senior security advisor in Washington.
Over the weekend following the 105th birthday celebrations of the state’s founder, Pyongyang tested what most experts believe was a medium range missile which exploded immediately after leaving the launch pad.

China and Egypt have long enjoyed strong close ties; in September, President Sisi was one of a handful of leaders invited to the G20 Summit in China [Xinhua]
China and Egypt have issued a statement endorsing the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Initiative, known as the Belt and Road Initiative.
Sun Chunlan, head of the United Front Work Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, met with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi on Wednesday and discussed the long-lasting strength of ties between the two countries.

BRICS special envoys meeting on Middle East in Vishakapatnam, India, 11 to 12 Apr 2017 [GCIS]A two-day meeting of BRICS special envoys on Middle-East concluded in India after discussions on coordinated approaches to the crises in Syria, Iraq and Palestine-Israel tensions.
This was the second meeting of envoys on Middle-East from the five-nation group which included deputy foreign ministers and top officials. The meeting was held in the southern Indian port city of Vishakapatnam from April 11-12.

BRICS leaders at the 8th BRICS Summit in Goa, India on 16 October 2016 [Image: BRICS2016]Even as the Group of Seven major global powers meet on Tuesday in a push to isolate Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Damascus has praised the “balanced stand” of the BRICS countries on the ongoing crisis.
“We are relaxed and happy with India’s stand from the beginning of the Syrian crisis. India’s stand was balanced as other BRICS nations.” Riad Abbas, ambassador of the Syrian Arab Republic in India, said at a press conference in New Delhi on Monday.

South Africa remains a lucrative buy, experts at a local conference said, despite the ratings downgrade. File photo: The Mall of Africa in Midrand, near Johannesburg, South Africa [Xinhua]
The rand continued to slide against the US dollar a week after S&P Global Ratings downgraded South Africa to “junk” status following President Jacob Zuma’s cabinet reshuffle in which five minsters were removed from cabinet and five ministers moved to new positions.
On March 27, the rand reached a 20-month best level of R12.31 to the dollar but fell to 13.9528 on Monday morning.

China State TV carried full coverage of the Trump-Xi summit April 6 and 7
Chinese President Xi Jinping returned home late Saturday after a successful trip to the US, where he met with President Donald Trump.
The White House quoted Trump as saying that the two countries had “made tremendous progress in our relationship”.

China has warned the US not to exacerbate tensions on the Korean Peninsula by deploying advanced anti-missile batteries in South Korea [Image: Archives]
When Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with US President Donald Trump on Thursday it couldn’t be more of a conference of polar opposites.
But opposites attract and in the next few months the two global superpowers are going to need each other more than ever If they are going to peacefully resolve the crisis in the Korean Peninsula.

Both China and India have ambitious space programs in place, while Russia continues to run the world’s only reliable “space taxi” after the US retired its space shuttles in 2011 [Xinhua]BRICS countries are looking to build space science cooperation as the bloc seeks a bigger share of the $300 billion global space industry.

The State Council wants to ensure employment opportunities for the young and those who are graduating into the work force [Xinhua]
With a focus on continued economic reforms China’s State Council on Wednesday put forth a plan to ensure development and boost the jobs market.
The Council also supported the supply-side structural reforms which began in earnest in 2014 as China’s economic growth began to retreat from double digits to just around seven per cent.