Foreign ministers from the Brics countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – met in June along with ministers from other countries, including Iran, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. On the agenda was the possibility of expanding membership of the group to include these countries, and Russia added urgency to the proceedings because of the impact of western sanctions. But the main topic of discussion was the creation of a common Brics currency. The New Development Bank, rather than the International Monetary Fund, was tasked with finding ideas for how to achieve this. It was hailed by ... (full story)