MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

BRIC leaders call for a “more diversified” currency system

The US dollar as global reserve unit at the heart of the financial discussion.

The leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and China -- the BRIC nations -- called for a “more diversified” currency system and a new global order after holding their first summit amid growing talk over the US dollar future as the global reserve unit.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev hailed the meeting in Russia's Ural city of Yekaterinburg as “historic” and said it had met the expectations of his colleagues.

“The summit must create the conditions for a fairer world order” he added in a final statement read out alongside Presidents Hu Jintao of China, Lula da Silva of Brazil and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Their final communiqué said it “is very necessary to have a stable, predictable and more diversified currency system,” and that the leaders were “committed to advance the reform of international financial institutions, so as to reflect changes in the world economy.”

Medvedev earlier reaffirmed his doubts about the future of the US dollar as the world's standard reserve currency and called for a major shift in attitude worldwide.

“The current set of reserve currencies and the main reserve currency -- the US dollar -- have not managed to perform their functions,” he said.

China has backed Russia's moves for a revamp of the global financial system, saying there is a need for a new supra-national currency besides the dollar to prevent a repeat of the global economic crisis.

Medvedev's chief economic aide, Arkady Dvorkovich, said Russia could consider investing its reserves not only in the United States and European countries but also in the financial instruments traded by BRIC states. But he also emphasized that Moscow did not want to see a sudden plunge in the dollar's value.

“There is an understanding that the last thing we need now is turmoil on financial markets,” Dvorkovich said. “No one wants to ruin the dollar, including us.”

He also suggested the International Monetary Fund (IMF) should revise the basket of currencies used to value its financial products to include the Russian Ruble and the Chinese Yuan.

The BRIC states also called for sweeping changes to the United Nations to give a bigger role to Brazil and India. The four BRIC nations represent about 40% of the world's population and 15% of its GDP.