OREANDA-NEWS. April 15, 2011. Vnesheconombank Chairman Vladimir Dmitriev participated in an annual meeting of heads of partner banks on the Memorandum on Cooperation between State Financial Development and Export Promotion Institutions of the BRICS Member Countries which was timed to coincide with the Summit of BRICS member countries’ heads of state in Sanya (China).

In the course of this meeting a Protocol was signed that provides for Southern Africa’s authorized financial institution, the Development Bank of Southern Africa, to join the BRICS interbank mechanism.

During the meeting Vladimir Dmitriev invited representatives of the BRICS countries’ banks to take part in the Petersburg International Economic Forum-2011 as well as in the round-table discussion devoted to economic cooperation within BRICS.

After the meeting, BRICS Financial Forum was held. The Forum was attended not only by interbank mechanism participants but also by representatives of the largest BRICS countries’ companies.

The Memorandum on Cooperation on between State Financial and Export Promotion Institutions of the BRICS Member Countries was signed in April of 2010 in the city of Brasilia (Brazil) at the Summit  of BRIC member countries’ heads of state. The Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES), Vnesheconombank, the China Development Bank (CDB), Eximbank of India became authorized banks of the BRIC countries.

The Memorandum’s main objectives are to enhance long-term interbank cooperation between partners in order to promote trade-economic ties between member countries and their enterprises as well as to provide support for implementing socially significant and regional projects.

In December of 2010, the Southern African Republic joined BRIC’s initiative and for this reason, BRIC was renamed as BRICS.