Brazil, India, S. Africa demand G-20 to fulfill commitments

The India, Brazil and South Africa (IBSA) forum Tuesday appealed to the Group of 20 (G-20) to implement its commitments to reform the global financial system.

Brazilian, Indian and South African Foreign Ministers of Celso Amorim, S.M. Krishna and Maite Nkoana-Mashabane held the 6th IBSA ministerial meeting here, during which they discussed the global economic and political situation and other issues of common concern.

At a press conference, Amorim said the global economy may recover earlier than expected, but it didn’t mean the measures to reform the global financial mechanism promised by the G-20 Summit in London in April should not be conducted.

The minister called on the upcoming G-20 Summit to take actions to regulate the global financial market and reform the World Bank.

Pittsburgh, the United States, will host the next G-20 Summit on Sept. 24 and 25.

Meanwhile, Nkoana-Mashabane said banks went bust, and the financial crisis harmed exports and caused much unemployment in IBSA countries.

“We agreed the reforms must be done. Now we want to see how and when,” she added.

Krishna said, “The global financial crisis affected everybody. The developing countries did not provoke it but suffered it.”

The IBSA, which was established in 2003 to boost South-South ties, has a total population of about 1.4 billion and the gross domestic product of over 3.2 trillion U.S. dollars.