The BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China & Republic of South Africa) Business Forum was held virtually from October 20-28, 2020. The meeting is being held online for the first time due to Pandemic (originally planned to be held in Moscow(Russia), and St. Petersburg (Russia)).
i.The BRICS Business Forum is the key annual event of the BRICS Business Council.
ii.The meeting was chaired by the Head of Russian Chapter of BRICS Business Council, President of Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Russian Federation, Sergey Katyrin from Moscow.
iii.It was held jointly with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russian Federation, the Ministry of Economic Development of Russian Federation and the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russian Federation.
Participants:
i.Heads of National parts of BRICS Business Council – Onkar Kanwar (India), Jackson Schneider (Brazil), Xu Lirong (China), Busi Mabuza (South Africa) were present during the meeting.
ii.Onkar Kanwar is Chairman of BRICS Business Council, India.
iii.About 90 speakers, representatives of executive bodies, monetary institutions, industry and public organizations from all international locations of the Affiliation took part in the Discussion board.
The discussions were held in the Forum under the following topics:
- The Main topic of the Forum of this year was “Business Partnership of BRICS: A Common Vision of Sustainable Inclusive Development”.
- “COVID-19 and Economic Development of BRICS Countries: problems and actions”
- “Challenges and opportunities for sustainable development: pathways to a green economy”
Key Points:
i.The forum jointly reviewed joint work for previous years and discussed current business issues and path for the future.
ii.During the session, Agenda for action on climate change and finding ways to sustain economic, industrial and energy development were discussed.
iii.Discussions were also held to reduce carbon emissions.
iv.The program included 9 panel sessions discussing areas of cooperation under topics of industry, trade, digital technologies, agriculture, healthcare, energy, ecology and women’s Entrepreneurship.
v.The forum discussed the impact of pandemic on industrial production, ways to restore economies of BRICS countries, the possibility of digitization and automation in creating favorable climate.
vi.The forum considered the development of the Women’s Alliance within BRICS.
XII BRICS Summit:
i.The XII BRICS Summit will be held online on November 17, 2020.
ii.The topic of the meeting of leaders will be “BRICS Partnership in the Interests of Global Stability, Common Security and Innovative Growth”.
BRICS Business Council:
i.It was first created in 2013 at BRICS Summit in Durban, South Africa to bring together the private sector from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
ii.It was established to Strengthen and promote economic, business and investment ties among business communities of BRICS countries.
iii.It works on nine thematic working groups namely Agribusiness, Digital Economy, Skills Development, Deregulation, Energy and Green Economy, Infrastructure, Manufacturing, Aviation and Financial Services.
Recent Related News:
i.On 4th September 2020, Russia, the current chair of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) chaired the stand alone meeting of BRICS Ministers of Foreign Affairs/ International Relations over a virtual platform through video conferencing.
About BRICS:
Members– Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Chairmanship (2020)– Russia (India will assume the Chairmanship of BRICS in 2021)
