On November 11, 2019 the union commerce minister Shri Piyush Goyal attended the 9th BRICS trade ministers meeting which was conducted in Brasilia, Brazil. This was part of his tour to Brazil and the United States(US) from November 9-14, 2019. Trade facilitation, investment promotion and cooperation in customs was the key focus of the trade ministers meet. During the meeting, issues related to cooperation in e-commerce, investment facilitation, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), Intellectual Property Right were discussed.
MoU: A Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) was signed between all the 5 BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) countries on trade and investment promotion.
Visit to the United States(US):
Meet with USTR, ambassador Robert Lighthize: The Indian commerce minister Shri Piyush Goyal had India-US bilateral meeting with his American counterpart, the US Trade Representative(USTR) ambassador Robert Lighthize in Washington, US.
- Bilateral issues and arriving at common shared understating on a mutually beneficial basis was discussed.
High-level industry interaction in New York: Shri Piyush attended the high-level industry interaction with business and industry representatives in New York, US.
About BRICS:
Current chair- Brazil is the current chair of the BRICS grouping which represents over 3.6 billion people.
Fact- South Africa was the last country to join BRICS in 2010.
Formation- 2006.
Headquarters- Shanghai, China.
