The BRICS countries India, China, Russia, Brazil and South Africa have signed two agreements to push intra-country trade in their local currencies and to set up a development bank.

The five emerging economies agreed on Thursday on a joint working group to set up a development bank that will extend credit facilities to member countries in local currencies. It is aimed at reducing the demand for fully convertible currencies dollar, euro and pound for transactions among BRICS nations. This will also help reduce the transaction costs of intra-BRICS trade.

In a joint media statement after the BRICS Summit, the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh said the agreements would boost trade among the BRICS countries.

Dr. Singh said all five countries were affected by the global economic slowdown, volatility in food and energy prices, political uncertainty in West Asia and the rise of terrorism and extremism.

In a Joint Delhi Declaration adopted after the summit the leaders underlined that dialogue was the only way to resolve issues related to Iran and Syria. Expressing deep concern over the situation in Syria, the leaders called for an immediate end to all violence and violations of human rights.

On Iran, the BRICS leaders voiced concern over the situation emerging around its nuclear programme and said it cannot be allowed to escalate into conflict as it could have disastrous consequences which will be in no one's interest.

At their Summit meeting , Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Chinese President Hu Jintao, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and South African President Jacob Zuma pitched for close coordination among the five leading economies to meet the challenges being witnessed in the global scenario.