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Business leaders from the five BRICS nations on Thursday agreed that utilising their individual economic strengths and specialisations would be crucial to furthering economic integration in the bloc.
"It is time for the BRICS nations to boost trade after taking into consideration the individual strengths of the nations." Onkar S Kanwar, Chairman of the Indian chapter of the BRICS Busiess Council said.
While India can leverage its dominant position as a mega hub of Information Technology services and repository of skilled labour, China can similarly work on its large manufacturing sector, he added. The oil and gas sector in Russia, Agro and food processing in Brazil and the mines and mineral sector in South Africa are considered to be areas of strength for these nations.
Business delegations from the four BRICS nations of Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa are in Delhi to attend the BRICS Business Forum. The forum is set to deliberate on major issues like market access for goods and services and ways to boost trade. Also, it is expected to set the tone regarding discussions on the functioning of the Shanghai headquartered New Development Bank, setting up of a credit ratings agency for BRICS nations and the possibility of greater trade in local currencies.
Apart from defence manufacturing, Russian companies are increasingly looking to tie up with oil and gas companies in India, Sergey Katyrin, Chairman of the Russian Chapter of BRICS Business Council told Business Standard. Indian businesses are also in the process of investing in the sector in russia, he said.
More than 450 participants from from various BRICS nations are also taking part in the first ever BRICS trade fair in Delhi. Running between 12-14 October, it is being organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) in association with the Commerce and Industry ministry. It is expected to grow business to business ties and reinforce the trading, business and investment potentials of the BRICS grouping of emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, a Ficci official said.
Later on Thursday, the Trade Fair is set to host trade ministers of the five BRICS countries who will deliberate on trade, investment issues. The ministers are set to meet at a time global trade growth has significantly slowed down, both in volume as well as in value terms.
While low commodity prices which have plagued trade are expected to rise by the end of the year, a persistent slowdown in Chinese economic and industrial growth is expected to make a recovery slow.
Global trade is expected to grow at its slowest pace in 2016 since the 2009 financial crisis gripped the world, the World Trade Organization said last week. It revised its estimates downwards for the third time since last September, down to just 1.7 per cent from 3.9 per cent earlier.
However, government officials have said an important framework to enhance intra-BRICS economic cooperation will be brought into force during the meet. The five ministers will also select a template for the BRICS – single window cooperation which will help boost trade in services.
A possible framework for cooperation in the fields of small and medium enterprises, services sector, intellectual property rights (IPR), trade promotion, non-tariff measures resolution and adoption of uniform standards is on the cards, a commerce ministry official said, under conditions of anonymity.
Later this week, the 8th BRICS Summit is set to begin on 15 October in Goa. The five countries are home to 42 per cent of the world’s population with the share in global GDP reaching 30 per cent. The combined GDP of the five BRICS countries surged from $10 trillion in 2001 to $32.5 trillion in 2014.
