
Agriculture is one of the main sectors of the national economies of the BRICS countries, Russian CCI President Sergey Katyrin said on August 22d at the BRICS Business Forum in Johannesburg.
"The volume of agricultural products purchased by the BRICS countries on the world market remains impressive – over $315 billion in 2022. But of this amount, only 23% is accounted for by mutual supplies within the BRICS, although we have much more potential. In cooperation with the countries of the global South, these opportunities simply triple," said Sergey Katyrin during the panel discussion "Interaction and cooperation. Revealing BRICS trade and investment opportunities".
According to Katyrin, who is the chairman of the Russian part of the BRICS Business Council, the absolute volumes of mutual trade in food products have been growing dynamically lately: from $49 billion in 2020 to $73 billion in 2022, or 1.5 times in just two years.
He stressed that the potential of economic cooperation between the BRICS countries is huge, but despite the positive trends, it has not yet been fully realized. "In this sense, we have a lot to do. First of all, to achieve greater diversification of the structure and areas of cooperation, to increase the balance of mutual trade," Katyrin concluded. He added that building up multifaceted cooperation with BRICS partners is one of Russia's foreign policy priorities, enshrined in the recently approved Foreign Policy Concept of the Russian Federation.
By the end of 2022, Russia's foreign trade turnover with BRICS partners increased by 40.5% and reached a record of $230 billion – 27% of the total foreign trade turnover of the Russian Federation. The dynamic growth of mutual trade continued in the first half of this year: an increase of 37.4% compared to the same period in 2022. In 2024, the BRICS chairmanship will be transferred to the Russian Federation.
During his working visit to Johannesburg, President of the Chamber Sergey Katyrin spoke at the annual meeting of the BRICS Business Council, took part in a business breakfast with the leadership of the New BRICS Development Bank, and also met with Russian Ambassador to South Africa Ilya Rogachev.
Press Service of the Chamber