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The Greek government has received an invitation to make Greece the 6th member of the BRICS development bank that involves Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The proposal came from Russia’s Deputy Minister of Finance Sergei Storchak in a telephone conversation with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

Later, in an interview with the Greek news agency AMNA, Storchak made a proposal to Athens to become a member of the new investment bank that is currently being established.

Greece disclosed the content of the telephone conversation on Sunday, a day before the critical meeting of the Eurogroup in Brussels. According to the official press release, Alexis Tsipras expressed his "pleasant surprise" and "commitment to examine the proposal in detail."

The BRICS countries announced their intention to establish a new development bank in July 2014. Its headquarters will be in Shanghai and its purpose to fund major infrastructure projects in the countries that participate in it. According to commentators, the BRICS bank will be an attempt to break the global economic governance on the part of the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank.

The Greek government sources claim that Alexis Tsipras will discuss the possibility of Greece joining the project for the establishment of the BRICS bank during the economic forum that will take place in St. Petersburg in the period 18-20 June.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister and coordinator of government economic policy Yiannis Dragasakis has instructed Greece’s former representative to the International Monetary Fund Panagiotis Roumeliotis to explore the possibility of the Greek participation in the bank. Significantly, Dragasakis talked about the proposal during his meeting with the board of the Greek banking union.

Roumeliotis stated for the Greek STAR TV that the bank would have authorized capital of $100 billion, a reserve amounting to $ 100 billion and it would pay $ 33 billion annually to finance projects of the member states. According to him, other European countries such as Germany had expressed interest in participating in the project of its establishment.

He, however, said, "It is too early for assessments and conclusions, and the options for Greece to participate in the project are still being explored," stressing that Athens was not faced with the dilemma whether to choose the West or the BRICS by stating, "The policies that the International Monetary Fund and the European Union have implemented in Greece in recent years have led to a contracted economy and increased unemployment. Exploring other ways to support and develop the economy does not harm the interests of Greece."

Roumeliotis was clear that since "the US cooperates with China, Greece can do the same, in view of the fact that China’s contribution to financing the US deficits is the highest."

In conclusion, he said that the participation in the BRICS bank would not be subject to the signing of a memorandum, because "the purpose of this bank is to finance infrastructure in support of economic growth."

The European Union has not yet expressed an opinion on the possibility of Greece joining the BRICS bank but the International Monetary Fund has stated that the decision depends on Athens alone.

Earlier the global news agency Bloomberg determined Russia's proposal as "a late April Fool's joke." Jim O'Neill, former employee of Goldman Sachs and the person who gave the name of the BRICS union, states in his analysis that Greece does not meet the criteria for joining the bank in question since its economy has shrunk by about 25% and it is on the verge of leaving the euro zone. The analyst examined the BRICS economies and as early as 2011, he predicted in his book "The Growth Map" that the specific countries would overtake the US in terms of economic growth this year. He has recently changed his forecast, stating that this will happen in 2017 and that the BRICS group will be equivalent to the G7 by 2035.

Significantly, under the terms for participation in the BRICS bank, each founding member should contribute $10 billion in order for the bank to be able to raise $ 100 billion in authorized capital.

Bloomberg states that Moscow's proposal to Athens is based on geopolitical interests that have intensified following the intention of the Greek cabinet to strengthen Greece's relations with the East.
 
"Some time ago, Tsipras met with Vladimir Putin in Moscow and received assurances that the Turkish Stream pipeline would pass through Greece, bringing revenues from transit fees. In return, Putin gets an ally that is already a NATO member in his attempt to weaken the Western allies that are opposed to Ukraine," the agency writes, pointing out that neither Moscow nor Athens have officially commented on the issue to this day.

Jim O'Neill, however, is not hesitant, "I can see why Russia can have the strange motive but I cannot imagine why the other countries would agree."

Meanwhile, in an interview with the Russian news agency RIA-Novosti Russia's Deputy Finance Minister Storchak said that Greece's likely acceptance in the BRICS bank would not be discussed before the summit of the group, which will be held in the Russian city of Ufa in July.
 
Commenting on his phone conversation with Alexis Tsipras, he pointed out, "According to the statute of the BRICS new development bank, it is open to all UN member states. In short, that’s all."