PHNOM PENH, July 25 -- Cambodian scholars on Friday hailed the BRICS nations' recent decision to establish a development bank, saying it would greatly benefit fellow developing nations.

On July 15, the five BRICS members -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- announced plans to establish a development bank and a contingent reserve arrangement (CRA) at the grouping's sixth summit in Brazil.

"The BRICS development bank is an alternative choice for developing countries to seek soft and hard loans for developing their infrastructure and growing their economies," Joseph Matthews, director of International Cooperation Department at the Asia Euro University, told Xinhua.

Chheang Vannarith, a senior researcher with the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace, said the BRICS bank would play a complementary role to the existing financial institutions such as the World Bank, the IMF, and Asian Development Bank.

"The bank mobilizes financial reserve and facilitates development cooperation among the emerging economies," he told Xinhua via email.

"It is going to reshape the global financial governance system by giving the emerging developing economies some political and financial weight against the traditional advanced economies," he noted.

He said the South-South economic cooperation is going to deepen in tandem with the creation of the BRICS development bank.

Commenting on Chinese President Xi Jinping's just-concluded Latin America tour, Vannarith said China takes a proactive foreign policy approach to connect its economic prosperity with the outside world, including Latin America.

"China is the bridge linking East Asia and Latin America," he said.

"Investment and trade flows between the two regions create a new impetus for South-South cooperation."