Five years after the Lehman Brothers collapse there is still no light at the end of the tunnel of the global financial crisis that in the meantime has become a crisis of civilization.

The central banks of the industrialized countries are engaged in cosmetic and short sighted liquidity creation to attempt to slow down the recession effects. The real challenge is how to mobilize the resources for development and to outline the strategic planetary projects to overcome civilization inequality and to create the condition for the emergence of new wealth generating poles.

It is true that the emerging countries show a different pattern of economic growth, but also their economies are not spared by the effects of global trade, reserves and currencies instability provoked by the crisis. The Cyprus banking emergency and the continuous sovereign debt crisis of several European countries risk to keep the entire world economic system under unbearable pressures and stress. The Cyprus bail-in approach with the use also of part of the deposits for banking recovery represents a dangerous experiment and an element of uncertainty and fear of future political and social distress.

While these developments could lead to a paralysis of the global reform process, the BRICS countries are presenting policy proposals of great importance for all the economic actors, particularly for Europe. At the 5th summit at Durban in South Africa the BRICS proposed the creation of new credit institutions for continental infrastructure development, the primacy of real economy over finance and speculation, a new monetary system based on a basket of currencies and other very important similar initiatives.

For the Eurasian continent a special role could be played by the project “Transeurasian Development (Razvitie) Belt” which should create new technologies-based transportation connections, new cites, modern industries and a new urbanization of large inhabited territories.

This approach is coherent with the focus on long term investments in infrastructure, innovative technologies and modernization process posed by the Russian presidency for the G20. This requires a vision of development based on new technologies and on a progressive social-humanitarian formation in contraposition to the linear notion of growth which is connected with the replication of existing technologies.

The new visions of the future should be based on facing these challenges overcoming the existing stumbling blocks on the road to recovery. Development was and is the name of peace.