Vladimir Putin, President Russia, Narendra Modi, Prime Minister India, Xi Jinping, President China and Jacob Zuma, President South Africa and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff are all in Brazil for the next 3 days for the 6th BRICS Summit. The main topic on the agenda is setting up the BRICS Development Bank which would be a parallel financial institution to the World Bank.

“The establishment of the bank was agreed to by BRICS leaders at the 5th BRICS summit held in Durban, South Africa on 27 March 2013. Among its goals is to provide funding for infrastructure projects and create a “Contingent Reserve Arrangement” worth US$100 billion which will help member countries counteract future financial shocks. This fund will consist of $10 billion of “paid-in capital” ($2 billion from each member to be provided over seven years) and an additional $40 billion to be “paid upon request”.”

Many questions still surround the BRICS Development Bank such as which currency will the bank use (through my research initially the US dollar will be used but we will see how long that lasts) and who will have significant control of its decision making?

Click here for a summary of the Summit and schedule.