Chinese President Xi Jinping said in St. Petersburg on Thursday that BRICS members should expand consensus on major international issues and enhance solidarity and cooperation.

He made the remarks at an informal leaders' meeting of the BRICS group, which also includes Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa, before a Group of 20 (G20) summit in this Russian city.

Under current circumstances, the Chinese president said, BRICS nations should jointly tackle the spill-over effect of the developed economies' loose monetary policy.

He urged developed nations to carry out effective structural reforms, and seriously consider the timing, steps and patterns of withdrawing their quantitative easing measures.

China, he added, has confidence in the emerging market economies.

Meanwhile, BRICS members should join hands to maintain and promote the openness of the world economy, oppose trade protectionism, safeguard the multilateral trade system, and advance the Doha Round of trade talks, he said.

The five countries, Xi suggested, should also work together to obtain a bigger say for developing countries in global economic governance and push forward the quota reforms of the International Monetary Fund.

Additionally, they need to speed up the efforts to set up a BRICS development bank and an emergency foreign currency reserve so as to establish a BRICS financial safety net, he added.

Other participating leaders noted that the world economy now still faces risks and challenges and its recovery remains fragile.

They urged the world's major economies, including G20 members, to step up coordination over their macro-economic policies and join hands to promote a strong, sustainable and balanced global economic growth.

Earlier in the day, Chinese Deputy Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao said BRICS countries have agreed on a joint foreign currency reserve pool of $100 billion.

The move came as a follow-up after the five countries agreed during this year's BRICS summit in Durban, South Africa, to set up a joint development bank.

(Xinhua News Agency September 5, 2013)