“India is delighted to host the Fourth BRICS Summit in New Delhi and assume the Chairmanship of the group. I would like to convey my profound gratitude to my colleagues, the Presidents of Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa, for accepting my invitation to attend this Summit. I wish them and members of their delegations a very pleasant stay in our country.

We have just concluded very enriching and fruitful discussions on issues related to global governance and sustainable development. We reviewed the global economic situation. We discussed ways to finance and promote sustainable development and address the challenges of energy and food security.

We had an in-depth discussion on the situation in West Asia. We agreed that a lasting solution to the problems in Syria and Iran can only be found through dialogue. We agreed that the international community should stay engaged in Afghanistan.

We have agreed on an intensive programme of consultation and coordination on areas of priority over the coming year. This is reflected in the Action Plan of the Delhi Declaration.

Going forward, we will examine the recommendations of the just released BRICS Report, which identifies focus areas for structured cooperation where synergies among the BRICS economies can be harnessed to our common advantage.

We are developing the institutional structures for building these relationships. The agreement signed today by development banks of BRICS countries will boost trade among us by offering credit in our local currencies.

A suggestion has been made to set up a BRICS Development Bank. We have directed our Finance Ministers to examine the proposal and report back at the next Summit.

We agreed to strengthen intra-BRICS trade and investment linkages. Our Trade Ministers met with the business communities at the Business Forum yesterday.

The world is passing through uncertain times. The rapid recovery of the BRICS economies from the financial crisis highlighted their role as growth drivers of the global economy. Our cooperation is intended to explore meaningful partnerships for common development, address global challenges together and contribute to furthering world peace, stability and security.

I look forward to working with my colleagues to further these common goals.”