The finance ministers and central bank governors of Brazil, Russia, India and China -- the so-called BRIC countries -- gathered in London on Friday to call on the G20 countries to maintain stimulus measures to promote financial stability and economic growth.

The BRIC-countries meeting was held on the sidelines of the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting, to be held here this weekend.

The BRIC officials agreed that emerging market economies have shown resilience and helped the world economy absorb the impact of the deterioration of trade, credit flows and demand.

According to a communique, they called for more help to many small middle-income and low-income countries to deal with the economic crisis, reform of international financial institutions, enhancing and consolidating the role of the Group of 20 major developed and developing countries.

More help for middle-income & low-income countries

The BRIC countries said more needs to be done to address the threat that many small middle-income countries and low-income countries will lag further behind in the development process due to their lesser capacity to respond to the severity of the crisis and to adapt to the new world economic landscape.

"We realize that reducing the development gap between advanced and developing countries is of great importance to achieving a sustainable and more balanced global growth. Providing an inclusive process of growth in the world economy is a matter not only of fundamental fairness, but also of strategic importance to the economic and political stability of the world," they said in a communique.

The four countries stressed that protectionism remains a real threat to the global economy and should be avoided, both in direct and indirect forms. Ongoing regulatory reforms in the financial sector should not impede cross-border capital flows and investments. Failure to do so would risk compromising the expected recovery of the world economy.

"We believe that governments should work towards prompt and successful conclusion of the WTO Doha round in a way that ensures an ambitious, comprehensive and balanced outcome," they said.

In addition, the BRIC countries said they realize that permanent, sustainable reforms must still be implemented on multiple fronts, adding that the world needs a fair, equitable, inclusive and well-managed financial and economic architecture.

"We cannot miss the opportunity to change international practices, rules and governance structures to make the global economy more resilient to future crises. We also believe that there is a great need for a stable and predictable international monetary system," they said.