Representatives of the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) have urged the implementation of reforms in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to streamline its governance structure and reflect the role of emerging economies more accurately.

In the Fortaleza Declaration, the outcome document of the 6th BRICS Summit held Tuesday (July 15) in Fortaleza, the five countries demanded the general review of IMF quotas.

After the meeting, President Dilma Rousseff went on to urge the prompt fulfillment of the G20 agreements for the IMF and World Bank reforms. According to her, revising the quotas could ensure a fairer representation of the actual weight of emerging economies.

The president pointed out that the creation of the New Development Bank which will finance projects of BRICS countries is not a response to IMF failure to implement its proposed reforms. “It is a response to our needs. Even after the BRICS bank has become a reality, this agenda of changing quotas is still open. This would be a key step to provide the needed support and legitimacy to a multilateral institution such as the IMF,” he said.

The final declaration went on to reiterates the need to reform the UN Security Council in order to make it more representative, effective and efficient. “China and Russia reiterate the importance they attach to Brazil, India and South Africa's status and role in international affairs and support their aspiration to play a greater role in the UN,” the document reads.

On this topic, Brazil's president stressed that the settlement of regional conflicts reflects the need to make the Security Council more representative. “We affirm peace and the need to prioritize dialogue as a way to ensure conflict settlement, and we believe that the best standard is, first of all, to adhere to the rules of the United Nations, to respect international law, and to act by those standards.”