The BRICS countries India, China, Russia, Brazil and South Africa on Thursday signed two agreements to initiate trade in their local currencies . Following the fourth BRICS Summit in New Delhi on Thursday, the five emerging economies also agreed on a joint working group to set up a development bank that will extend credit facilities to member countries in local currencies.

The master agreement is aimed at reducing the demand for fully convertible currencies like dollar, euro and pound etc for transactions among BRICS nations. This will help reduce the transaction costs of intra-BRICS trade. The joint working group will be required to submit a report on the initiative by the next Summit.

In a joint media statement, the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh said the agreements would boost trade among the BRICS countries. At the same time, he pressed for easing of business visas to facilitate increase in intra-grouping trade and investment.

Summing up the sense of the meeting, Dr. Singh said all the 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.

Earlier, addressing the BRICS Summit, Dr. Singh advocated from improvement in global governance. He said BRICS should speak in one voice on important issues like UN Security Council reforms. He also sought international cooperation on issues like energy, food and water security.

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.

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.

The Delhi declaration recognized that stability, peace and security of West Asia and North Africa hold vital importance for all member nations and also for the international community .

The declaration said, the immediate priority at hand is to restore market confidence and get global growth back on track. It also called for a more representative international financial architecture .

The BRICS nations also agreed to continue efforts for the successful conclusion of the Doha round.

AIR correspondent reports, the Delhi Declaration issued at the end of the summit reflects the shared perception of the BRICS countries, which account for 40 percent of global GDP and nearly half the world's