New world bank based in China

FORTALEZA, Brazil – The leaders of five emerging market powers said at a summit Tuesday that they gave final agreement to creating their own development bank worth $100 billion that will have its headquarters in China.

The first president of the New Development Bank will be from India and the position will rotate every five years among Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – the so-called BRICS nations, a joint statement from the leaders said.

BRICS leaders conferred in a closed session earlier in the day at their conference in northeastern Brazil, then announced concrete plans for the bank at an afternoon session open to the press.

The new bank is seen as a strong push by the BRICS against the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, which the developing world has long complained is far too U.S.- and European-centric.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the Russian news agency ITAR-Tass that the decision “confirmed that BRICS members, while speaking against unilateral actions in the world economy and politics, are not seeking confrontation but propose working out collective approaches toward the resolution of any problems.”