BRICS leaders gather for summit

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Leaders of emerging economic powerhouses Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) gathered in New Delhi Thursday (March 29) for their annual BRICS summit.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Chinese President Hu Jintao and South African President Jacob Zuma are expected to launch plans for a joint development bank and measures to bring their stock exchanges closer together.

Billed as an alternative to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, the development bank initiative would allow the countries to pool resources for infrastructure improvements, and could also be used in the longer term as a vehicle for lending during global financial crises such as the one in Europe.

Brazil is also expected to push its partners to it, in denouncing what it sees as unfair monetary policy practiced by Europe and the United States, raising the stakes in a global confrontation over economic imbalances.