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SUMMARY: 2022 BRICS Business Forum

The leaders of BRICS countries met virtually to discuss issues related to the global economy, including post-COVID-19 recovery, economic sanctions, and sustainable development.

June 23, 2022
SUMMARY: 2022 BRICS Business Forum
(From L-R) Chinese President Xi Jinping,  President Vladimir Putin, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa
IMAGE SOURCE: FLICKR

The leaders of BRICS countries—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—met virtually on Tuesday for the 2022 BRICS Business Forum. The event was chaired by China and was held ahead of the 14th BRICS Summit, which will be held in Beijing and attended by all BRICS leaders via video link.

The following is a brief summary of the addresses by each of the heads of state.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro:

President Bolsonaro highlighted the progress made by Brazil in implementing measures aimed at economic freedom and transparency and said “he seeks to improve Brazil’s involvement in international trade and investment flows.” He said, “Bringing our business communities together is one of our priorities for the BRICS. By getting to know each other better, our entrepreneurs will be able to close deals that will result in reciprocal gains, including for workers in our countries.”


He noted that one of the aims of the government is “to expand the participation of the private sector in the economy, promoting investments in infrastructure, encouraging entrepreneurship, and reducing restrictions on free economic activity.” In this respect, he said that the BRICS Bank, also known as the New Development Bank (NDB), has the “potential to contribute to the development of our economies and the improvement of our infrastructure.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin:

Noting the role of the forum in “promoting mutual trade and investment” between members, Putin said, “the participants in the BRICS Business Forum represent the interests of a significant and the most dynamically developing part of the international economic community.”


In this respect, he remarked that the theme of this year’s forum is ‘Foster High-quality BRICS Partnership, Usher in a New Era for Global Development.’ He called for BRICS to foster economic cooperation among the business communities of the respective members, noting that the current atmosphere, which is dominated by Western sanctions, is not conducive to economic growth.

“Entrepreneurs of our countries are forced to develop their business in a challenging environment when the Western partners neglect the basic principles of market economy, free trade, and inviolability of private property,” Putin said. He said that the West is following an “irresponsible macroeconomic course.”

The Russian leader added, “there is the intentional destruction of cooperation ties; transport and logistics chains are destroyed. And all this is contrary to common sense and basic economic logic, it undermines business interests on a global scale, negatively affecting the wellbeing of people, in effect, of all countries.”

“As a result, the problems in the world economy become recurrent. What we see is an economic slowdown, growing unemployment, shortages in raw materials and components,” Putin noted.

In this respect, the Russian President called for “intensifying” contacts between Russian business circles and the BRICS business community. Furthermore, he mentioned that “Russia’s presence in the BRICS countries is growing,”­ pointing to a “noticeable increase in the exports of Russian oil to China and India.”

Additionally, Putin claimed that BRICS countries are “developing reliable alternative mechanisms for international settlements” and “exploring the possibility of creating an international reserve currency based on the basket of BRICS currencies.­” He stressed that Russia is “ready to work openly with all partners based on the principles of mutual respect for each other’s interests, the primacy of international law, and equality for all nations and peoples.”

“In general, I would like to note that Russia is taking comprehensive measures aimed at mitigating the negative impact of sanctions and strengthening our trade and investment relations with all the states concerned,” Putin declared, before going on to say: “We are actively engaged in redirecting our trade flows and foreign economic contacts to reliable international partners, first of all, the BRICS countries.”

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi:

PM Modi emphasised that BRICS has a very important role in the post-COVID-19 economic recovery phase. He said that the mantra of “reform, perform, and transform” has worked well in sustaining India’s economic growth despite the pandemic and said that the world could adopt this approach in light of the Indian economy’s performance.

He said that with this approach India has been able to maintain its status as the fastest-growing economy in the world and is expecting 7.5% growth this year. “Transformative changes are taking place in every sector in the emerging New India,” he remarked.

Modi told BRICS leaders that India’s ability to sustain its economic growth rests on four pillars, which he encouraged his counterparts to adopt for their economies.

First, he said that India has witnessed a “technology-led” growth by fostering innovation in every sector. “We have made innovation-friendly policies in many areas like space, blue economy, green hydrogen, clean energy, drones, geo-spatial data, etc,” Modi proclaimed, adding, “Today, India has one of the best eco-systems in the world for innovation, which is reflected in the growing number of Indian start-ups.”


Second, India has focussed on taking steps to improve the ease of doing business in the country, and “thousands of rules have been changed to reduce the compliance burden on the businesses,” the PM noted. “The work is going on at a massive scale to bring in more transparency and consistency in Government policies and procedures,” he said.

Third, the focus on infrastructure growth has helped India successfully navigate the shocks caused by the pandemic, Modi said, adding that India is continuing to focus on the development of related sectors through measures like preparing a National Master Plan and opening up investment opportunities for $1.5 trillion under our National Infrastructure Pipeline initiative.

Fourth, Modi claimed the role of the digital economy in helping India fight through the COVID-19-induced economic stress “has never been seen in the world stage.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping:

“The world economy still faces strong headwinds on its path toward recovery, and global development has suffered major setbacks,” Xi noted. In this respect, the Chinese president proposed four steps to put the world back on the path of progress.

Firstly, he urged countries to maintain “solidarity and coordination” in order to ensure that there is world peace. “The tragedies of the past tell us that hegemony, group politics and bloc confrontation bring no peace or security; they only lead to wars and conflicts,” Xi opined. He thus asserted, “We in the international community should reject zero-sum games and jointly oppose hegemonism and power politics. We should build a new type of international relations based on mutual respect, fairness, justice and win-win cooperation.”

Secondly, Xi called on countries to “jointly promote sustainable global development” and “forge [a] united, equal, balanced and inclusive global development partnership.” He said countries should seize the opportunities presented by new scientific and technological developments to “promote cooperation in a wide range of areas such as poverty reduction, public health, education, digital connectivity, and industrialisation.”

Thirdly, he said that the world “should tide over difficulties together and jointly pursue win-win cooperation.” In this regard, Xi said that international and regional disputes have only led to global economic disruptions.

“To politicise the global economy and turn it into one’s tool or weapon, and wilfully impose sanctions by using one’s primary position in the international financial and monetary systems will only end up hurting one’s own interests as well as those of others, and inflict suffering on everyone,” he said, referring to sanctions imposed by the West on Russia in light of its invasion of Ukraine.

Fourthly, Xi called for a new model of globalisation, one which gives importance to “openness and inclusiveness,” arguing that “this will boost the free flow of capital and technology, unleash the full potential of innovation and creativity, and foster synergy in boosting global economic growth.”

“We should uphold the WTO-centred multilateral trading system, remove barriers to trade, investment and technology, and keep the global economy open,” Xi said, positing that “this will ensure that all countries enjoy equal rights, follow the rules as equals, and share equal opportunities.”

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa:

President Ramaphosa underscored the role of BRICS in ensuring a smooth post-COVID-19 transition phase. However, he noted that developing countries, especially in Africa, “continue to face challenges of poverty and inequality,” which has only been exacerbated by the pandemic. “Lack of access to lifesaving vaccines and treatments is still holding back the recovery of millions across the world,” he lamented.

“We call on BRICS to support the drive of the African Union to ensure that vaccines destined for African countries are procured from African manufacturers,” Ramaphosa implored, adding, “As BRICS nations, we have to do all within our means to mitigate the impact of poverty, food and energy insecurity on our people.”

He went on to say that BRICS members need to deepen trade and investment cooperation “if we are to withstand vulnerabilities in regional and global supply chains.” He also called on the organisation to foster close ties with the World Trade Organization to support inclusive development and promote the rights and interests of its members.

“As BRICS leaders and as the BRICS business community, let us deepen our collaboration and partnership in pursuit of global development that benefits all and that leaves no one behind,” he concluded.