Russian regions interested in cooperation with BRICS member-states - Chamber of Commerce

SHANGHAI, March 27. /TASS/. Russian regions are highly interested in expanding cooperation with BRICS member-states, President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Sergey Katyrin, who heads the Russian delegation, said at a meeting of the BRCIS Business Council in Shanghai on Tuesday. "Russian regions are highly interested in expanding cooperation with BRICS countries, which we are trying to strongly support, particularly through organizing forums, conferences and seminars on the BRICS subject in the regions," he said, adding that it is also necessary and important to establish direct ties between business circles of member-states. According to Katyrin, a traditional session on issues of cooperation expansion within BRICS will be held at this year’s St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. He also noted that an energy platform is being created by BRICS countries. "At this stage our energy ministries have reached an agreement to launch a platform of BRICS energy researches, which will become a basis for development of an energy dialogue between member-states and joint efforts to create and verify outlooks and estimate global energy expansion," he said. R&D centers and energy companies from BRICS states will be involved in operations of this platform for independent analysis, drafting of joint scenarios of traditional and renewable energy development, as well as assistance in implementation of joint investment energy projects. The BRICS Business Council, the key mechanism for promotion of business cooperation between member-states, was established during the 5th BRICS Summit held in March 2013 in Durban, South Africa. In includes five representatives from each country. Its task is to identify problems and bottlenecks to ensure greater economic, trade and investment ties amongst the BRICS countries and recommend solutions accordingly. Seven working groups in the areas of Infrastructure, Manufacturing, Financial Services, Energy & Green Economy, Skills Development, Agribusiness and Deregulation operate under the aegis of the BRICS Business Council. Read more