Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke on October 18 at the plenary session of the BRICS Business Forum, which was chaired by the head of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Chairman of the BRICS Business Council in 2024, Sergey Katyrin.
"I would like to report that yesterday the annual meeting of the BRICS Business Council was held with the participation of the national parts of the council. During the meeting, my colleagues and I adopted an annual report, which reflects the results of work over the past year, as well as the most relevant proposals of the BRICS business community for further deepening market integration and trade and economic cooperation in our association. This document will be submitted to the heads of BRICS states at the summit in Kazan," Sergey Katyrin said.
The agenda of the BRICS Business Forum brought together more than a thousand representatives of business circles, heads of companies, associations, unions of entrepreneurs, chambers of commerce and industry of the BRICS member countries.
"We plan to discuss issues of cooperation in the field of finance and investment, transport and logistics, agriculture, information, food security, sustainable development. We also plan to congratulate the winners of the international BRICS best practices competition and the BRICS women's startup competition," said Sergey Katyrin.
Vladimir Putin noted that the list of participants is solid. Businessmen from those countries that became full members of BRICS on January 1 of this year also arrived for the current forum. These are colleagues and friends from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates, the President specified.
He emphasized that Russia, as the current BRICS chair, strives to facilitate the integration of new participants into all cooperation mechanisms in every possible way.
The Russian presidency is held under the general motto "Strengthening multilateralism for equitable global development and security." To date, the plan has been fulfilled by more than 80%. More than 200 events, meetings, conferences, and industry meetings have been held. Most of the expert and ministerial meetings took place. The central event will be the BRICS summit. It starts next week in the Russian city of Kazan.
BRICS accounts for about a quarter of the world's goods exports. At the same time, companies from the association's countries dominate many key markets, including energy resources, metals, food, that is, the markets for those goods without which sustainable economic development is impossible.
"In a word, BRICS already plays a significant role in the global economy not only today, but, quite obviously, this role will increase in the future. The countries that are part of our association are actually the drivers of global economic growth. And it is in BRICS that the main increase in global GDP will be generated in the foreseeable future," the head of the Russian state said.
He added that the New Development Bank plays a special role in strengthening financial cooperation. According to the President of the Russian Federation, this bank should become one of the main investors in the largest technological and infrastructure projects in the BRICS space and the Global South as a whole.
Separately, Vladimir Putin touched upon the issues of transport, the implementation of the Northern Sea Route development plan, cooperation in the field of innovation and the digital economy.
He also noted that in the future it is necessary to create a single digital infrastructure of BRICS. And it is important to define coordinated approaches of business, the public, and relevant government bodies on the use of biometrics and ensuring information security.
Sergey Katyrin thanked the President of the Russian Federation for participating in the forum and his attentive attitude to the BRICS Business Council and the development of entrepreneurship in general.
During the forum, video messages from the heads of Egypt, Ethiopia, South Africa and Iran were shown.
Sergey Katyrin also made a report at the plenary session of the BRICS Business Forum. During it, he dwelt in detail on those areas of cooperation that were put forward as priorities within the framework of the Russian chairmanship in BRICS and on which the efforts of the Business Council were concentrated this year.
"Firstly, one of the most important components of trade and economic cooperation between the BRICS countries is strengthening transport and logistics links, developing international transport corridors, developing modern intermodal logistics solutions and creating a "seamless" transport infrastructure," he said.
In this area, according to him, work is underway on a number of joint projects, among which the key one is the international transport corridor "North-South".
The second priority block of issues that make up the "core" of the business agenda is related to the formation of a sustainable system of financial settlements, payment services and a mechanism for compiling BRICS credit ratings, as well as the development of cooperation between insurance markets, Sergei Katyrin clarified.

In this regard, he added, much attention is being paid to developing new mechanisms for international settlements within BRICS that could be more inclusive and ensure greater stability, independence and security for all participants.
The third priority area is the development of the digital economy.
"We see that digital institutions need to be created in the association space to implement the socio-economic transformation of the BRICS states. This implies taking measures to promote the active implementation of advanced digital technologies in the sphere of production, transport and logistics, and other sectors of the economy," said Sergey Katyrin.
Another initiative that business circles are working on is the development of cooperation in the field of artificial intelligence, added Sergey Katyrin.
Following the plenary session, Sergey Katyrin answered questions from the media.
During the day, the forum, which was held at the Moscow Central Trade Centre, featured panel sessions on BRICS financial and investment cooperation, international trade and logistics connectivity of the BRICS countries, agribusiness development and strengthening food security in the member states, sustainable energy transition and the role of technological cooperation in implementing the BRICS sustainable development strategy. The event concluded with a formal awards ceremony for the winners of the BRICS International Best Practices Competition – BRICS Solutions Awards and an awards ceremony for the winners of the BRICS Women's Startup Competition.

Press Office of the Chamber