At the forum “Colombia & BRICS that was organized in the capital Bogota,” Rusinque announced the formal request to join the financial institutions that was set up in 2014 a an alternative to investment banks dominated by the United States.

The request is part of “Colombia’s strategic approach to the BRICS+ bloc, one of the planet’s most dynamic economic forces.”

“This rapprochement is an important step in the process of integration into this new architecture of international economic relations based on principles of complementarity, south-south cooperation and mutual development. It also opens an opportunity to diversify our markets, strengthen our economic sovereignty and build strategic alliances with the most dynamic economies of the 21st century” - said Trade Minister Cielo Rusinque.

Entry to the New Development Bank would allow Colombian governments to seek investment loans outside institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or the Inter-American Development Bank that have historically demanded neoliberal policy changes in return. Coalition congressman Alejandro Toro, who had organized the summit, said that the BRICS bank would allow investments in areas that are unpopular with the traditional investment banks.

“We would need to talk about new loans, talks about the purchase of debt, and it’s there that great possibilities emerge with a bank like the BRICS’ new bank, on top of loans we could obtain for the issue of education or infrastructure” - noted congressman Alejandro Toro.

Toro suggested that new trade policies of US President Donald Trump motivated the Colombian government to look for economic opportunities in other parts of the world.

“What President Trump did was throw us into an abyss of opportunity,” according to the lawmaker.

The BRICS summit follows all kinds of bilateral and multilateral meetings within the hemisphere, as well as China and other trade partners from Asia.

Colombia Reports