Brazil has increasingly become involved in the structures and institutions of the international organization - BRICS. The recent visit of the President of Latin America's largest country to China, coupled with a number of important statements on the most pressing international political and economic issues, gives a clear indication of the country's development vector for the coming decades.
The arrival of President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva in the People's Republic of China was another important step of the Brazilian leader in reshaping the foreign policy of his predecessors and, like the visits to Buenos Aires and Montevideo, demonstrated Brazil's desire to join the ranks of influential world powers.
After many decades of Brazil drifting in the wake of Washington, Mr. Lula da Silva, even before his visit to China, was in agreement with Argentina on the need to create a regional currency and de-dollarize mutual trade, and breathed new life into the regional economic union of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay MERCOSUR through complex negotiations with Uruguayan President Luis Pou.
One of the key events during the Brazilian president's visit to the China was his compatriot Dilma Rousseff's speech at the inauguration ceremony of the head of the BRICS bank. The new BRICS development bank was established by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa to support the international organization’s joint projects, but its function and mission clearly go beyond making it a mediocre payment center.
In his speech in Shanghai, where the NDB is headquartered, the Brazilian president openly called on the BRICS partners to abandon the US dollar as an instrument of mutual and international trade and to use only national currencies for this purpose. In addition, Lula criticized the US-controlled International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, stating that the New Development Bank should become an alternative to these discredited institutions.
According to the Brazilian leader, BRICS, and its bodies could replace Western financial institutions as development facilities for the poorest countries, helping them to achieve a new stage of development and overcome crises.
Worth noting that in recent years, the BRICS international alliance has consistently developed not only interaction within the organization, but also actively built up its presence in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. In addition, thanks to the active participation of China and Russia, the Eurasian trade, economic and infrastructure project 'One Belt, One Road' is rapidly developing aimed at creating a huge space for cooperation in the region, which has a population of over 2 billion people.
President Lula da Silva's policy statements at one of the most important political and economic centers of the BRICS show Brazil's determination to actively participate in the development of this giant political and economic union. Considering that Latin America's largest industrial, agricultural and resource-rich country has clearly identified its priorities and reaffirmed its commitment to the principles, interests and values of BRICS, the influence of this powerful political and economic union in the Western hemisphere will grow as quickly as in the eastern one.
