总部上海，金砖5国1000亿美元自建开发银行抗衡西方

    五大新兴国家的领导人计划成立一家为发展项目提供资金的银行以及一只应急储备基金，以便抗衡强大的世界银行（World Bank）和国际货币基金组织（IMF）。

    周二的金砖国家（BRICS）峰会宣布了这项计划。BRICS这个词由与会五国英文名称的首字母组成——这五个国家是巴西、俄罗斯、印度、中国和南非。这个计划的思路是建立一个可以替代主要国际贷款来源的金融机构，从而让金砖国家在融资方面不那么依赖这些贷款来源，同时彰显金砖国家的政治实力。

    金砖五国将为这家开发银行提供1000亿美元资金。这家银行的总部将设在上海，由一名印度人担任首任行长。虽然中国出资最多，但这五个国家在这家银行中将持有相同的份额，在管理和决策方面有着同等的发言权。另外，这五个国家还将再出资1000亿美元建立应急储备基金。

    金砖国家占全球人口的42%，年贸易额为6.14万亿美元。按GDP计算，它们约占全球经济的20%。

    本次金砖国家峰会召开之际，克里米亚已经加入俄罗斯，中国和俄罗斯签署了天然气协议，印度政府完成了换届。因此，从外交政策角度而言，本次会议极为重要。

    布鲁金斯研究所（Brookings Institution）专攻国际关系的研究员托马斯•赖特指出：“在我看来，本次峰会传递出的一条主要信息是，金砖国家正在设法编织一张安全网。这样，一旦美国和欧洲打算孤立、制裁其中某个国家，它们依然可以有所依靠。最令人担心的是，它们没有就乌克兰问题向俄罗斯发表任何关键性言论。基本上，这些国家流露出来的态度是，无论普京干什么，它们都没意见。”

    金砖国家在2008年全球金融危机爆发前夕由巴西、俄罗斯、印度和中国组建。两年后，这个组织又吸收了南非。各成员国的经济健康程度不同，在某些情况下都面临着经济问题。但它们在外交和政治层面找到了建立这个组织的依据——用赖特的话来说就是，它们的想法是，“不能什么事都由西方说了算”。

    虽然俄罗斯总统普京大胆地表达了他对金砖国家的看法——他说自己将敦促其他新兴国家设法阻止美国的“制裁攻击”——但其他国家的领导人在回应时都很谨慎。

    普京在接受《莫斯科时报》（The Moscow Times）采访时说：“我们应当共同制定一整套措施，用它来帮助那些不同意美国及其盟友的外交决策的国家，避免它们陷入困境。同时，这套措施也应当促进以相互尊重为基础的全面和平对话。”

    以往金砖国家一直很难形成共识。当初，它们在2011和2012年未能就IMF和世界银行负责人提名达成一致；而今，印度和南非近期又表示它们可能退出五国均已初步认可的贸易协议。许多专家的看法是，金砖国家这个组织过于“分散”，因而发挥不了任何作用。

    在本次峰会上，金砖国家成功打破了这种观念。为了今后的发展，它们正在向着重新校准经济平衡的目标迈进。新德里智囊机构Observer Research Foundation高级研究员兼副总裁萨米尔•萨兰认为：“对于这些在经济和政治事务上尚未真正进入贵宾席的国家来说，这是一项成就。它将形成一种新的经济治理观念。”（财富中文网）

    译者：Charlie

    Leaders of five big emerging nations plan to create a bank to fund development projects plus an emergency reserve to counter the powerful World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

    The plan was announced Tuesday at the annual BRICS summit, an acronym taken from the name of the participating countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The idea is to create an alternative to the major international lending sources so as not to be so dependent on them for money and as a symbol of political strength.

    The development bank – funded with $100 from the five member states – will be headquartered in Shanghai and, in its first phase, headed by an Indian president. Although China will be bank’s largest donor, each nation will own an equal share of the bank and have an equal say in governance and policy making. Another $100 billion will be allotted to an emergency reserve fund.

    BRICS countries account for 42% of the world’s population and represents $6.14 trillion in annual trade. They contribute roughly 20% of the world’s economy based on GDP.

    The BRICS summit took place against the backdrop of Russia’s annexation of Crimea, a Russia-China natural gas deal and the change of government in India. The proceedings were therefore of utmost importance to the U.S from a foreign policy standpoint.

    “I think the big message to me coming out of the summit is BRICS are trying to create a safety net that means if the U.S. and Europe tried to isolate and sanction one of them they have something to fall back on,” said Thomas Wright, a fellow at the Brookings Institution who focuses on international relations. “The most worrying parts are that they didn’t say anything critical of Russia on Ukraine. Basically they sent out a message that they had no problem with anything with what Putin was doing.”

    BRICS was established just prior to 2008 financial crisis with Brazil, Russia, India and China. Two years later, they welcomed South Africa to the club. The member nations vary in their economic health and, in some cases, are undergoing economic problems. But they’ve found a diplomatic and political rationale to exist that Wright described as being based on the idea that “not to have all roads go through the West.”

    While Russian President Vladimir Putin boldly expresses his views on BRICS—that he’ll press other emerging markets to find ways to prevent “sanction attacks” by the U.S.—other leaders are cautious about their response.

    “Together we should think about a system of measures that would help prevent the harassment of countries that do not agree with some foreign policy decisions made by the U.S. and their allies, but would promote a civilized dialogue on all points based on mutual respect,” Putin said in The Moscow Times.

    In the past, the BRICS have struggled to reach a consensus. First they could not agree on a candidate to head the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank in 2011 and 2012. Then recently India and South Africa signaled they may backtrack on a trade agreement initially endorsed by all five countries. Many experts perceived it as a group too “splintered” to make any change.

    With today’s summit, BRICS managed to break that perception and move forward to realign the economic balance for future development. “It is an achievement for the countries who have not significantly sat on the high table on economic and political governance matters,” said Samir Saran, senior fellow and vice president at Observer Research Foundation, a New Delhi based think-tank. “It is going to create a new ethos of economic governance.”