BRICS: Dialogue solution to Iran, Syria

The BRICS group of emerging market nations agreed at a summit Thursday that only dialogue can resolve violence in Syria and the crisis over Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Indian Premier Manmohan Singh said. “We agreed that a lasting solution in Syria and Iran can only be found through dialogue,” Singh said in a closing statement at bloc's fourth summit in New Delhi attended by the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The summit declaration warned of the “disastrous consequences” of allowing the Iran standoff to escalate into conflict and stressed that the bloodshed in Syria could only be resolved by “peaceful means.” The declaration also voiced the bloc’s united support for a Syrian peace process promoted by international envoy Kofi Annan. Russia and China, which both wield vetoes on the UN Security Council, have stridently opposed using force or outside intervention to resolve the Syrian crisis or defuse Iran’s nuclear drive. "It is important to give the Arab Republic’s government and the opposition a chance to start a dialogue without saying that such a dialogue is doomed to failure from the start and that only military actions can restore order,” President Dmitry Medvedev told reporters on Thursday at the conclusion of the summit. The Russian leader stressed that a military approach to the Syrian crisis, which is pitting anti-government militants against the government of President Bashar al-Assad, would be “the most shortsighted and dangerous.” He stressed that the BRICS member states “will promote the success” of the Syrian dialogue. Medvedev also suggested his partners from BRICS organise joint humanitarian aid to the Syrian people. Russia has already initiated aid efforts The BRICS Summit also focused their attention on other pressing global issues, including reform of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).