NATIONS attending the Brics summit in the Russian city of Kazan called today for deepening development of a multilateral world.

The summit’s final declaration included a call for the reform of the Bretton Woods institutions, including the IMF and the World Bank established after World War II.

The 36 nations taking part in the summit insisted that any new arrangements should take into account increased representation of developing countries.

The group initially included Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa and has expanded to embrace Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia — although the Saudis have yet to formally accept the invitation to join.

Turkey, Azerbaijan and Malaysia have applied to become members, and scores of other nations have expressed interest in joining. One invited country, Argentina, decided against joining after the election of Javier Milei.

Brics also welcomed the use of national currencies in financial transactions between the countries of the alliance and their trading partners as a means of reducing the dominance of the dollar in world transactions.

President Putin accused the United States of “weaponising” the dollar and described it as a “big mistake.”

“It’s not us who refuse to use the dollar,” he said. “But if they don’t let us work, what can we do? We are forced to search for alternatives.”

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told the summit that “new payment systems, independent of dollar, need to be strengthened. 

“The independent countries can no longer indemnify the US for its unsound financial policies or its failure to combat systemic corruption in its financial sector.”

In a declaration that concentrated largely on reviewing the international scene, there was also a call for “mediation for a peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian conflict through dialogue.”

The meeting also expressed its concern over “the escalation of violence and the worsening humanitarian crisis in Sudan” and called for a ceasefire.

Chinese President Xi Jinping called for the bloc to prioritise peace and co-operation.

The declaration also condemned attacks on UN staff by Israel in Lebanon and “called on Israel to immediately stop such actions.”

Dozens of high-level bilateral meetings took place at the margins of the summit, with journalist Pepe Escobar telling Sputnik News that Mr Putin’s bilaterals with Mr Xi and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had “set the stage” as they were “like friends talking.”

Mr Modi and President Xi also met today in their first bilateral meeting in five years, though no details of their discussions were immediately revealed.