Indian PM praises BRICS cooperation

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Tuesday that cooperation among BRICS have obtained important depth and substance over the past several years. "The BRICS draws strength from bilateral relationships between its individual members, including between India and China, which have acquired significant depth and substance. There are many functional areas of cooperation such as urbanization, agriculture, health, science and technology under BRICS in which India and China find synergies," he told Delhi-based Chinese media before his official visit to China. The BRICS countries are China, India, Russia, Brazil and South Africa. The prime minister said it is a matter of satisfaction that the BRICS Development Bank, which was first mooted during the New Delhi Summit in March 2012, has registered significant progress. "There is now agreement on key issues. I hope that BRICS technical experts would be able to resolve the remaining issues before the next summit. Setting up of the New Development Bank would send a strong signal of collective capacity of BRICS to help each other as well as other developing countries to address challenges relating to deficit of long-term infrastructure financing. Another important BRICS initiative is the Contingent Reserve Arrangement, which will help stimulate trade among our countries," he said.