Speaking at the BRICS Business Forum, Putin took a sharp swipe at G7
New Delhi: Hailing the contribution of BRICS member states to the world economy, Russian President Vladimir Putin on September 11, Friday swiped a sharp jibe at G-7 and said the BRICS countries account for more than half of the world’s population and have “dynamic, vibrant, domestic markets”.
President Putin, who was addressing BRICS Business Forum here, also slammed sanctions on Russia over war with Ukraine and said that more than 30,000 sanctions have been slapped on Russia which is twice as much as the number of all sanctions against all other countries of the world combined.
President Putin had bilateral meeting with Prime MInister Narendra Modi as well on the sidelines of the summit ahead of the formal opening of 18th BRICS on September 12, Saturday. In his remarks at the BRICS Buiness Forum, Putin described G-7, which includes richest industrialised countries Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, as “so-called G-7”.
“Over the last five years, more than 40 per cent of the world’s GDP has been produced by the BRICS countries, where the contribution of the so-called G7, the Great 7 – I don’t know why they call that – stands at only 29 per cent”, Putin said.
“Speaking about the growth of the world economy over the same period, we see that more than half of that growth has been accounted for by BRICS, whereas the G7 has only accounted for 18 per cent. Why is that?” Putin reiterated while espousing a sharp criticism on G7 countries, which has imposed massive sanctions on Russia, since the outbreak of the Ukraine conflict.
“The answer is simple, BRICS countries account for more than half of the world’s population and that is why, they have a great dynamic, vibrant, domestic markets”, he added. President Putin also slammed the US sanctions against Russia and also a bill in the US about possible sanctions on countries including India that import oil from his country.
“Sometimes competition is taking some ugly forms. This ugly form is something we see even at the State level, at the government level. Sometimes the measures resorted to are of physical nature, when pipelines are being destroyed, when attempts are undertaken to block international transport corridors to seize maritime vessels, illegal restrictions are applied and there is also the threat of so-called secondary sanctions against those who do not want to follow someone else’s interest and rather look after their own”, Putin asserted.
“More than 30,000 sanctions have been slapped on Russia which is twice as much as the number of all sanctions against all other countries of the world combined. Against this difficult backdrop, Russia has been working actively and Russia has managed to achieve great success. We have reinforced our national sovereignty, we are developing ties with reliable, predictable partners. During the last three years, the economic growth in Russia has been superior to the world average”, Putin hailed Russia’s growth during the BRICS Business Forum.
“It is explained by the fact that the so-called old leaders which used to be the vanguard of economic growth in the second half of the 20th century, are being replaced by new engines of growth. When I say old, this is just a formality – all of us understand what we are talking about”, Putin further swiped western economies.
“These so-called old leaders are still in possession of great strong suits and well-developed infrastructure, technological advantages, scientific advantages, scientific schools and so on and so forth. That’s sad, this isn’t the nature of things. This isn’t the nature of humanity and the nature of economy. The world is always changing”, Putin reiterated.
(With Inputs from ANI)
