The leaders of India, Brazil and South Africa said on Wednesday the global credit crisis showed the need for reforming institutions such as the United Nations to reflect their growing economic clout. All three countries have felt the pinch of a crisis that many blame on the mistakes and greed of wealthier Western nations. “We run the risk of being victims of a financial crisis generated by rich countries. This is unjust,” Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told the summit of the three countries in New Delhi. “It is inadmissible that we'll pay for the irresponsibility of speculators that transformed the world into a gigantic casino. At the same time they gave us lessons on how we should govern our countries.” “Our countries should participate more directly in international coordination to confront the financial crisis.” In Seoul, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak proposed Wednesday a new international organisation that would be mandated to address cross-border economic issues such as the current financial crisis. Lee said the increased integration of the global village has brought greater vulnerability to what would have been isolated shocks and a surge in “unintended malicious consequences”. The presidential Blue House released few details about Lee's proposal. South Korea was the recipient of a massive bailout package from the International Monetary Fund a decade ago that came with a raft of onerous conditions. Brazil and India belong to the so-called BRIC group of elite emerging markets that also includes Russia and China. For years, they have campaigned for more influence on global diplomatic and financial policies. This crisis has given more weight to their argument, they say, that major emerging markets need more seats on the UN Security Council or a role at G-8 summit. “We need more than ever before a renewed effort to reform the institutions of international governance, whether it is the United Nations or the G-8,” India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told the three-nation summit. Brazil, for example, has seen its ambitions to become a global economic heavyweight jeopardised by the crisis, which has hit its once strongly performing stocks and currency markets. India has been forced to inject liquidity into its banking system, and there are fears the Asian giant's record growth rates could suffer. “The pillars of stability ... potentially lie in the south,” said South African President Kgalema Motlanthe. At the same summit on Tuesday, India and Brazil said a prompt breakthrough in global trade talks would send a clear signal about the political will of governments to collectively meet risks to the world economy from the financial crisis.
