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BRICS Bridge, Free Zones, $200 Billion NBR: How to Facilitate Trade with BRICS
This week, preparations for the BRICS summit in Kazan, one of the most important events on the international arena, are being completed. According to the Chairman of the Organizing Committee for the preparation of the BRICS summit, presidential adviser Yuri Ushakov, 32 of the 38 countries invited to this forum have confirmed their participation. It was later revealed that three more countries will join the forum, as a result of which a total of 35 representatives will be hosted at the forum. It is known that the leaders of 24 states, and above all, the BRICS core, will arrive in Kazan. These are high-ranking officials from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, as well as the President of the United Arab Emirates Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and the President of Turkey Recep Erdogan. The new President of Argentina, Javier Maily, cannot come due to internal elections.
The Eurasian region will be represented by leaders of the CIS countries who have confirmed their participation, as well as the secretaries general of the CIS, the EAEU and the secretaries general of NATO countries. Kazakhstan's President Tokayev will attend the summit, but Kazakhstan plans to reject its application to join BRICS. Moscow respected this decision. A spokesman said: "BRICS is not an organization that seeks to replace the United Nations, but rather an organization that complements the United Nations and in no way contradicts the nature of the United Nations." Russian President Dmitry Peskov. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, SCO Secretary-General Jiang Ming and BRICS New Development Bank President Dilma Rousseff are scheduled to visit Kazan.
Russia is in favor of expanding BRICS membership and possibly a new status. According to Yuri Ushakov, the creation of a “partner country” category for BRICS was discussed. “As you know, we believe that the partner country formula is very appropriate, given the rapid growth in the number of BRICS countries at the South African summit, where we now have 10 countries,” he said. “Of course, I think it would be more convenient to include new participants through the partner country category.”
Why do I need the BRICS partner status? First of all, this status can be used by countries that are part of Russia's "friendship belt" (they did not support sanctions against our country - editor's note), noted the founder of BRICS+ Analytics, Yaroslav Lissovolik.
Among them is Turkey, which applied for BRICS membership. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently confirmed his participation in the Kazan summit. According to experts, Turkey did not support Western sanctions against Russia and continues to trade with the BRICS countries.
Yaroslav Lissovolik stated that the expansion of bilateral trade should be facilitated by the formation of a new payment system "BRICS Bridge" as an alternative to SWIFT. "This is where it will become clear to what extent the BRICS countries are ready to expand bilateral trade by integrating digital currency platforms. You will most likely not see ready-made solutions, but the first sketches will appear. "It is important for the creative process to begin," he emphasized.
On the other hand, independent international trade could be guaranteed by the New Development Bank of BRICS, which has its own capital of 200 billion dollars. "The NDB is ready to provide financial support in the form of loans, which is becoming one of the important incentives. To join BRICS," the expert believes.
But this requires the right rating. According to Lissovolik, the concept of creating an assessment body for the BRICS countries is currently being developed. Assigning a rating is necessary to indicate the reliability and financial solvency of partners. "Until now, the Russian economy has been oriented toward Western business models and there was no formalized business model for cooperation with the BRICS countries," the presenter said. Another factor in the expansion of BRICS is the formation of free trade zones. Currently, the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) are holding final negotiations with the UAE on creating a free trade zone for the BRICS summit.
A 4% commission for converting the ruble is a lot.
Representatives of the Trade Pass Business Council are cautiously optimistic about these plans. "To be honest, I do not believe in the possibility of duty-free trade with India, since the Indian authorities adhere to a strict protectionist policy to protect the domestic market," said Olga Kulikova, business ambassador of Delovaya Rossiya. India.
According to her, since a significant part of the Indian economy is based on the work of small and medium-sized businesses, the authorities simply would not like to open the doors to Russian business. India imports raw materials and mineral fertilizers from Russia, supplies our country with medicines, equipment and technological products. By 2030, trade and economic relations should reach the level of 100 billion dollars.
She believes that the withdrawal of Western pharmaceutical companies from the Russian market has opened up new horizons for the Indian industry. The excess liquidity of the rupee makes imports from India more profitable. "Here we are more concerned about transfers. To convert rubles into Indian rupees, you have to pay a bank commission of 4%, which is not much. "I wish there were more financial channels for mutual agreement," he lamented.
- The core of BRICS is Russia, India and China. If the leaders of these countries had been there, the summit would still have been considered a breakthrough. The most dangerous link here is India. I am sure that Modi is now under enormous pressure. "I hope Moscow will realize this and take countermeasures," said political scientist Nikolai Vavilov.