The complete, official English-language translation is now available of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s Nov. 2 interview with Ksenia Komissarova, Editor-in-Chief of the TV BRICS. In it, Lavrov called for “reform of the existing institutions” such as the IMF, the World Bank, and the UN Security Council, to “increase the share of the Global South and Global East in the mechanisms of global governance,” while “in parallel … create alternative payment mechanisms: interbank settlements using national currencies, insurance mechanisms that will not be directed against the system that has developed since World War II around the dollar as the pivot.” Excerpts follow:
“Mutual understanding was reached [at the BRICS summit in Kazan] on almost all major issues. There are always nuances. We managed to agree on the [[Kazan] Declaration](http://static.kremlin.ru/media/events/files/en/RosOySvLzGaJtmx2wYFv0lN4NSPZploG.pdf) adopted on the basis of a balance of interests… .
“The main `pathos’ of this Declaration is the need to significantly increase the share of the Global South and Global East in the mechanisms of global governance, including the UN Security Council, IMF, World Bank, and WTO.
“Regarding the international monetary and financial system. The common view is that there are two main conclusions. The first is to demand that developing countries, especially the BRICS countries as the fastest growing economies, receive the number of votes in the IMF and World Bank boards of directors that would correspond to their real weight in the world economy and share in the world gross domestic product….
“Reform of the existing institutions remains on the agenda, but in parallel, this is the general opinion and one of the most important conclusions of the BRICS work at this stage, before the final part of the Russian presidency, everyone wants to create alternative payment mechanisms: interbank settlements using national currencies, insurance mechanisms that will not be directed against the system that has developed since World War II around the dollar as the pivot. A parallel system is needed, given that the dollar is increasingly being used as an aggressive weapon in the world economy. No one knows who will be the next. No one is immune to dollar arbitrariness given the desperate position of the United States in today’s world. They feel that hegemony is slipping away (and it will do so not quickly, but for a long time), but they want to use everything, including the most forbidden techniques, to keep it.
“To insure against this, to create settlement systems, payment platforms that will not depend on such risks—this is now a common task. It was on the agenda of the summit in Kazan and at the meetings held throughout the year between finance ministers and heads of central banks. Recommendations have already been developed. They are not final yet, but they already give us an opportunity to start creating reliable, sustainable, long-term systems. I am sure that Brazil, as the next Chairmanship country, will continue this work.
“Undoubtedly, in addition to the backbone of the monetary and financial sphere, which serves the real economy, there was also support for purely sectoral initiatives, including our initiative to start preparations for the creation of a BRICS grain exchange, investment, and geological platforms. This was primarily the idea of the African countries that are members of BRICS. In addition, we put forward two projects—to create working groups on transport and nuclear medicine. This was supported both at the BRICS meeting and in the adopted declaration….
“Brazilian President Lula da Silva initiated the topic of the Russian presidency on alternative payment systems at the BRICS summit in Johannesburg in 2023. It was in response to this initiative, enshrined in the Johannesburg Declaration, that finance ministers and central bank governors worked. There is progress. But we need to take it to its logical conclusion, so that there are ready mechanisms for use.
“I have no doubt that our Brazilian colleagues will work with triple energy, given that this is an initiative of their President. I think that President Lula da Silva himself will make sure that this topic is one of the most important ones. We are looking forward (I am sure we will) to the continuation of work on Russian initiatives. This is a grain exchange, an investment platform, a group on transport, and nuclear medicine. These are all purely applied things in which all BRICS members are interested. I have no doubts about this. We will actively support the Brazilians.”
