Lula: All Brics members should be in UN Security Council

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva advocated Tuesday (Aug. 22) that all the countries making up Brics—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—should become permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. As it stands today, only Russia and China occupy permanent chairs. “We need to convince Russia and China that Brazil, South Africa, and India can join the Security Council,” he said.

In Johannesburg for the Brics Summit, the president also argued for the entry of new members into the bloc. “This is a debate we’re going to have. Even if we want to enable new countries to join, we have to limit [the discussion] to something everyone agrees on. If there’s no commitment from the countries joining Brics, it becomes a Tower of Babel. We’re building that. I think that something crucial should come out of this meeting about the entry of new countries. I’m in favor of several countries joining. We’ll be strong.”

On his weekly TV program Conversa com o Presidente, President Lula also talked about the creation of a bank that would operate differently from the International Monetary Fund. “We want to create a very strong bank, bigger than the IMF, but with other criteria for lending money to countries—not suffocating, but lending expecting that the country will create the conditions to invest the money, develop itself, and pay back, without the payment crippling the country’s finances.”

Funding

The president once again advocated the creation of a common currency for commercial transactions between Brics and Mercosur countries to replace the dollar. This can be done without devaluing their own currencies, he believes.

“There are countries like Argentina that can’t buy dollars now. To sell to Brazil, you shouldn’t need dollars,” he said, while commenting on the crisis facing Argentina, and also defending the South American country’s entry into Brics.

The president arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Monday (21). The city is hosting the 15th Brics Summit.

Also on the show, aired by Canal Gov, Lula remarked on Brazil’s tries with African nations, referring to Africa as the “continent of the future.” In his view, the external debt of African countries—which amounts to $800 billion—must be discussed and transformed into investment capacity. “The rich world has to understand the need to guarantee the poorest countries the opportunities they haven’t yet had,” he said.

Earlier on, Lula met with representatives of the African National Congress, Nelson Mandela’s ruling party. The president also met with Brazilian members of the Brics Business Council and is still taking part in an event at the BRICS Business Forum as well as a private meeting with the bloc’s heads of state and government.