On March 26, Harry Schmelzer Jr., CEO of WEG, left for South Africa accompanying President Dilma Rousseff for the 5th BRICS Summit meeting, in Durban, South Africa.Mr. Schmelzer was one of the five Brazilian representatives in the BRICS Business Council, responsible for assisting the exchange of ideas and the preparation of an agenda of economic-business topics with the ultimate goal of contributing to the strengthening of the BRICS Group.

The Committee – composed of the main executives of the companies: Banco do Brasil, Marcopolo, Gerdau, Vale and WEG – accompanied President Rousseff at the Launch of the BRICS Business Council in the morning of March 27. The President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, the Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh, and the President of China, Xi Jinping, were also be present.

Right after the opening ceremony, the Brazilian President presented the agenda item; “BRICS and Africa: Partnership for Development, Integration and Industrialization”. They discussed the promotion of the inclusive and sustainable development, the reform of the global governance institutions, and the paths to global peace, safety and stability.

The representatives of the BRICS countries agreed on a resolution that would begin negotiation of an agreement for the creation of a new development bank led by the five countries and oriented to financing infrastructure and sustainable development projects that would further BRICS growth.

About BRICS;

BRICS is an acronym that refers to the countries of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. It is estimated that the economic potential of these 5 countries will overtake G7 economies by 2030 and be the dominant economic block by 2050.

In 2012, with a combined GNP of approximately US$ 15 trillion, according to IMF data, the BRICS countries were responsible for 21% of the world GNP at rated values and for 27% of the world GNP in terms of purchasing power parity. Its five members occupy 26% of the world’s land area, with 42% of the world’s population and 45% of the global work force.