Putin: Coordination with Silk Road will be topic at summit

BRICS nations will address concerns on key international issues and discuss coordination between the Eurasian Economic Union and Silk Road Economic Belt at their upcoming summit in Goa, India, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.

In an interview with Russian and Indian media days before the summit on Oct 15 and 16, Putin said practical interaction among the five countries will be more substantive than ever, with more than 30 formats for inter-agency cooperation in the political, economic, humanitarian, security and law enforcement areas.

Putin noted the establishment of the New Development Bank and the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement with the total capital of $200 billion is a concrete example of this cooperation, and all sides will discuss the issues of project funding through the NDB and of a full-fledged launch of the BRICS Contingent Currency Reserve Pool.

"We are also determined to cooperate in the fight against terrorism, drug trafficking and corruption, and we will also contribute to settling conflicts and ensuring international information security," Putin said.

The last BRICS summit was held with participation of heads of state of the Eurasian Economic Union, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, as well as the SCO observer states in the Russian city of Ufa in July 2015, when BRICS members talked about the issue of major regional and trans-regional infrastructure projects.

Kamel Mellahi, a professor of strategic management at Warwick Business School, looks into the cooperation of the two projects with optimism. He said: "regional connectivity is the main objective of the strategy of China's Silk Road, and there is little doubt that it's a win-win project for both countries to integrate two initiatives."

Wu Fei, a researcher at the Center for China and Globalization, said the two initiatives share great potential of cooperation, as Russia has plenty of projects under the BRICS framework, with quick payoff of which Belt and Road lacks, especially those in the Far East, the Ural mountain area, investment in Yekaterinburg, and development of the Arctic Ocean channel.

Putin said the coordination could eventually provide a basis for the Big Eurasian Partnership that would involve a wide range of states of the Eurasian Economic Union, the SCO, and ASEAN.

"We expect that such partnership will be open for accession by all countries concerned and will build on the principles of transparency and mutual respect," Putin said, adding that coordinating topic will be further discussed at the summit.

renqi@chinadaily.com.cn