Russia ready to boost cooperation with BRICS countries in several areas - official

MOSCOW, November 14. /TASS/. Russia is set to expand cooperation with its partners in the BRICS group of nations (Brazil, India, China and South Africa) in the real sector of economy, Head of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Sergey Katyrin told TASS on Wednesday. "We see good prospects for expanding cooperation in the real sector of economy, primarily in the areas of aircraft making, power generation equipment industry, metallurgy, machine-building, radioelectronics, transport and special-purpose machine-building industry, agriculture," said Katyrin, who is taking part in the BRICS summit events in Brasilia. Among other areas with huge potential, Katyrin identified "cooperation in infrastructure projects to establish and improve logistics corridors on the territory of the BRICS nations." Apart from that, he sees vast possibilities to develop cooperation in food supplies and the agriculture machinery sector, in rail transportation and on the mineral fertilizer market. "Russian companies have something to offer to partners in those spheres, that’s why we expect noticeable steps in expanding cooperation in the very near future," the Russian official said. He also cited data showing that Russia’s trade turnover with BRICS nations has been on the increase lately. In 2017, the Russia’s trade with its BRICS partners stood at $102.4 billion (17.5% of its overall foreign trade that year). Next year, the figure grew by 22.4% to reach $125.3 billion (18.2% of its overall foreign trade). "Positive dynamics can be observed this year as well," Katyrin said. He added that China remained Russia’s main trade partner among the BRICS nations, accounting for 86.3% of overall trade turnover with BRICS nations, or $108.2 billion, followed by India ($10.9 billion), Brazil ($5.1 billion) and South Africa ($1.1 billion). On Wednesday, leaders of Russia, Brazil, India, China and South Africa are taking part in various events on the sidelines of the summit. Their schedules include bilateral meetings and a joint speech at the closing ceremony of the BRICS business forum. The summit’s main events are to begin on November 14. Read more