BRICS summit starting today in Delhi

BRICS summit kicks off in New Delhi today where leaders of the emerging economies - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa are set to discuss trade ties and several global issues.

New areas of cooperation are expected to be discussed at the meeting, said an official release.

Trade Minister Anand Sharma said, "There is a large untapped growth potential of intra-BRICS trade and investments which we are presently focusing on for exploitation."

Besides, the development banks of BRICS are in advanced stage of reaching a pact for extending cross-country credit in local currencies of the member countries, he said.

The theme of the 4th BRICS Summit is 'Partnership for Stability, Security and Growth'. The last summit was held in China in April, 2011.

The US is looking forward to the outcome of the New Delhi summit.

"We obviously look forward to hearing the outcomes of the BRICS country summit. I don't think we're going to prejudge them before they've had their meeting," State Department spokesperson, Victoria Nuland, told reporters.