Major research institutions from the BRIC countries -- Brazil, Russia, India and China -- intend to tighten their cooperation to achieve joint views on issues of common interest and help the work of the BRIC governments, it was announced on Wednesday.

A two-day seminar gathering think tanks of the BRIC countries to examine the global economic situation and the role of those countries in the post-crisis global transformation, was opened in Brasilia on Wednesday morning, preceding the second BRICs summit scheduled for Friday in the Brazilian capital.

The most important aspects of the current relations between the four countries was presented in a press conference by Marcio Pochmann, from Brazil's Institute of Applied Economic Research ( IPEA), Li Yang, vice-president of China Academy of Social Sciences, Indian Rathin Roy, from the United Nations Development Programme ( UNDP), and Vladimir Davydov, from the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The objective of the seminar is to establish a working agenda between BRIC research institutions, and even play the role of being a supplement to the second summit, to define common tasks beyond the immediate interest of the heads of state, Pochmann said.

He stressed that these institutions could provide joint responses to errors in assessment, which happens frequently in international institutions, for example on the evolution of poverty rate in developing countries, because there is "no dialogue with researchers from the countries (themselves)."

Li Yang noted that China's intellectuals are a very important source for the government, which should be extended to the relationship between countries. "I think that an active and dynamic interaction between us would promote the formation of consensus among the heads of state. It is very important for us to have made contact with several research institutes in Brazil," he said.

Roy said that there is a long tradition of exchange between institutions of the four countries, while Davydov stressed the importance that policy is linked to the academic world to better adapt to the new historical realities.

Pochmann anticipated that the BRIC research institutions will organize this year a seminar on water resource management and environmental quality.