BRIC summit to focus on economic, financial issues

BRASILIA, April 8 (Xinhua) -- Economic and financial issues will be high on the agenda of the Second Summit of the BRIC group, which starts here on April 16.

Discussions are expected to be held on the need for changes in global institutions, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, and on updating the regulation of financial markets to avoid another global crisis.

Its host, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and leaders of the other countries in the group, Chinese President Hu Jintao, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will attend the meeting.

Ambassador Roberto Jaguaribe, coordinator of the summit, reiterated the group's origins in financial market assessment and their importance in the global economy in the coming years at a press conference at Itamaraty Palace, the headquarters of Brazil's Foreign Ministry.

"According to the IMF, the BRIC countries were responsible for 46.3 percent of global growth in 2008 and in 2009 this percentage must have been even greater," he said.

He said the wealth brought to the world was increasingly from developing countries.

"Between 2008 and 2014, the BRICs are expected to be responsible for 61.3 percent of global growth," he said.