India convenes meet of BRICS finance ministers in Washington DC

India has convened a meeting of the finance ministers of BRICS – the group includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – in Washington DC on Thursday to address the evolving economic and financial situation in the world.

"The objective is to discuss our concerns regarding the current state of the global economy and our policy response," said Pranab Mukherjee, the finance minister. "We will discuss the progress on the report commissioned by India on the role that BRICS can play in the global economy going forward, and also our role in the international financial institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank."

The meeting of the BRICS finance ministers would be held in the US capital on the sidelines of the IMF-World Bank and G-20 meetings.

However, Mukherjee did not refer to the proposal by Brazil that the BRICS could help bail out crisis-ridden countries in Europe including Greece and Italy, by buying their debt. Mukherjee had a few days ago sounded sceptical on coordinated global policy relating to the Eurozone crisis.

He said that unlike the global financial crisis in 2008 – when all the major economic powers launched a coordinated action plan – it would be difficult to repeat it now as economies were at different stages of the economic cycle.

Brazilian finance minister Guido Mantega has indicated that he would discuss how to help European nations emerge out of the crisis during talks with his BRICS counterparts in Washington DC.