The four countries account for about 16.5 percent of global gross domestic product and have been seeking more say in world financial institutions.

"There will be no BRIC leaders' meeting as President Lula was unable to attend because of the situation in Brazil," said a source in one of the BRIC delegations who requested anonymity.

The BRIC term was coined by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill in 2001 to describe the growing power of the four emerging market economies, although critics say they have vastly different and often competing political agendas.

Goldman's models show China could supplant the United States as the world's biggest economy by 2027. Under that scenario, the world's biggest economies in 2050 would be China, the United States, India, Brazil and Russia.

In an attempt to the turn the grouping's economic might into political power, the BRIC countries held their first official summit in 2009 in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg. Another summit followed in April in Brasilia.

China is the biggest player in the BRIC grouping, with an economy likely to grow to $5.4 trillion this year, more than the three other members combined, according to IMF data. The BRIC countries have 43 percent of the world's population.

Lula is missing the two-day summit of the Group of 20, which includes the world's rich and and emerging economies, after flooding in northeastern Brazil, a political stronghold for his administration.

Flood relief

Relief supplies began reaching stranded flood victims in northeastern Brazil, officials said on Friday, as Lula cancelled his visit to Canada for the G20 summit to oversee rescue efforts.

"The president on Thursday flew over the areas affected by the rains and flood and saw that the drama is much greater than initially believed, so he has decided to stay in Brasilia to closely follow the relief operations," a Lula spokesman said.

After a visit to the worst-hit areas, President Lula approved more than $300 million in emergency aid.

Entire towns and villages were swept away as rivers burst their banks after heavy rains in Alagoas and Pernambuco states.

More than 150,000 people have been left homeless, and 46 are confirmed dead.

Food and drinking water were distributed for the first time in some localities.

In Branquinha, 80 kilometers (50 miles) outside Alagoas capital city of Maceio, firefighters struggled for hours in vain to retrieve the body of a woman trapped in the rubble of her collapsed house, on the banks of the Mundau river.

The death toll from this week's torrential rains in the northeast currently stands at 51, but the number of missing people was drastically scaled back Thursday from several hundred to 56.

Agence France-Presse contributed to this story.

Reuters

(China Daily 06/28/2010 page23)