BRICS should move forward with the use of local currencies among member countries, says secretary.

Daniella Almeida, reporter for Agência Brasil - The BRICS – under Brazil's rotating presidency since January 1st – will advance the use of local currencies to conduct financial operations related to trade and investments made by the group's member countries. The goal is to reduce the costs of commercial and financial operations for emerging nations.

The confirmation was given by the Secretary of Economic and Financial Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MRE), Mauricio Lyrio, this Friday (21), in a conversation with journalists, in Brasília. The secretary is Brazil's chief negotiator in BRICS, appointed to coordinate the work with the function of "sherpas" (a word of Tibetan origin used to refer to mountaineering guides).

"This is something that has been developing within BRICS since 2015, and we continue to advance it, especially since the use of local currencies is already standard practice in bilateral trade between BRICS members. Several members already use local currencies in their bilateral trade, which will continue during the Brazilian presidency," he declared.

According to Lyrio, the payment system in local currencies is among the priorities of regional powers this year, which will be debated next Tuesday (25) and Wednesday (26), among the main negotiating leaders representing the 11 member nations of the bloc.

They are: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. In January 2024, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, and Iran joined the group as full members.

The Brazilian Foreign Minister explained that, at this time, BRICS will not discuss the creation of a common currency for the bloc. “There are no agreements on the subject, and also because this process is very complex. These are large economies. This is not an easy issue to manage and, obviously, there are other ways to reduce operating costs. It has to do with the internal logic of BRICS.”

Secretary Mauricio Lyrio stated that the decision not to discuss a common currency is unrelated to statements by international authorities. Recently, the new President of the United States (US), Donald Trump, threatened the bloc's member countries with 100% tariffs on their imports if the group seeks an alternative to the dollar in international negotiations.

The diplomat did not rule out the possibility of BRICS heads of state discussing the adoption of a common currency in the future. "Nothing prevents the presidents from discussing the possibility in the more distant future."

The Brazilian Sherpa also emphasized that BRICS was born with the mission of strengthening multilateralism to solve problems and reform global governance. "Reforming it so that it [global governance] becomes more democratic, more inclusive, and more representative in these same countries."

Priorities - Next week's meetings will serve to present to the BRICS sherpas Brazil's other priorities in leading the group, in addition to the use of local currencies to carry out financial transactions.

The themes will be aligned for the BRICS Heads of State Summit, scheduled to take place on July 6 and 7 in Rio de Janeiro.

The five priorities that will be addressed at the two-day meeting are: cooperation in health; financing for climate change; BRICS trade, investment, and finance; artificial intelligence governance; and BRICS institutional development.

The meeting will be opened on Tuesday by Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira at the Itamaraty Palace in the federal capital. There is also the possibility of a special session with an address by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to the participants on the second day of the event.