First BRICS Trade Fair & Exhibition began in New Delhi

The first BRICS Trade Fair and Exhibition began in New Delhi, ahead of the BRICS political summit in Goa.

About BRICS :

BRICS is the acronym for an association of five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

• Originally the first four were grouped as “BRIC” (or “the BRICs”), before the induction of South Africa in 2010. The BRICS members are all leadingdeveloping or newly industrialized countries, but they are distinguished by their large, sometimes fast-growing economies and significant influence on regional affairs; all five are G-20 members.
• However, BRICS countries have significantly slowed down with South Africa only growing 1% in 2015 similar to the 1.6% a year from 1994 to 2009,Brazil in its worst recession since the 1930s by some measures, Russia in a recession as oil prices tailspin and sanctions weigh and China’s slowdown is set to be a drag on global growth and is reported to be the slowest in the last 25 years. Since 2009, the BRICS nations have met annually at formal summits.
• Russia hosted the group’s seventh summit in July 2015. India is going to host the BRICS conference in Goa in 2016. The term does not include countries such as South Korea, Mexico and Turkey for which other acronyms and group associations were later created.
• As of 2015, the five BRICS countries represent over 3.6 billion people, or half of the world population; all five members are in thetop 25 of the world by population, and four are in the top 10.
• The five nations have a combined nominal GDP of US$16.6 trillion, equivalent to approximately 22% of the gross world product, combined GDP (PPP) of around US$ 37 trillion and an estimated US$ 4 trillion in combined foreign reserves.
• The BRICS have received both praise and criticism from numerous commentators. Bilateral relations among BRICS nations have mainly been conducted on the basis of non-interference, equality, and mutual benefit.

About Trade Fair :

Ahead of the BRICS summit in Goa, the first BRICS Trade Fair and Exhibition begins in Delhi. The fair will be a platform for the BRICS countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – to exhibit state-of-the-art technologies and advances made in industrial development.

• The three-day fair was held at Pragati Maidan. According to organisers, the fair has attracted more than 600 exhibitors. While there are several sectors of interest to BRICS countries that will be represented at the trade fair, the focus will be to showcase some of the best technologies available across BRICS nations to address BRICS countries main development challenges.
• The trade fair will also focus on Start-ups, to bring together young entrepreneurs from across BRICS nations on this platform. It is showcasing about 20 key sectors. These include aerospace, agro-processing, auto and auto components, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, railways, infrastructure, tourism, gems and jewellery and skill development.
• Intra-BRICS trade grew to 297 billion US dollar in 2014, from 281 billion US dollar in 2012. The BRICS Business Forum, will be held tomorrow and over one thousand business delegates will participate from from all BRICS countries.
• In addition, business leaders from BIMSTEC countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand) also have been invited for meetings and discussions with the BRICS business leaders and companies at the trade fair.