BRICS Trade Ministers come forward to support MSMEs

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SME Times News Bureau | 15 Oct, 2016
Trade Ministers from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) have agreed on a cooperation framework to promote mutual beneficial commercial relationship among micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) while consenting to work together in a number of other areas such as services, standards, e-commerce, intellectual property and non-tariff measures.

In a joint statement following the sixth meeting of BRICS Trade Ministers in New Delhi on Thursday, the Ministers emphasised the importance of developing cooperation among MSMEs in the crucial areas of trade and investment, reports media.

Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Nirmala Sitharaman has said that India has taken a lead on the micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) sector as we believe that this sector is vulnerable to global volatility and needs support in terms of both finance and transfer of technology.

"New Development Bank (NDB) would also be encouraged to come out with ideas and pilot projects for strengthening MSMEs in BRICS countries," the minister said on Thursday while addressing the delegates attending the BRICS Trade Fair and BRICS Business Forum under way in New Delhi.

She said that this is a unique event because for the first time a Trade Fair is being held in the BRICS format. It is indeed heartening that this Trade Fair has received enthusiastic response from entrepreneurs of all BRICS countries.

The Trade, Investment and Economic Cooperation underpin the solidarity of BRICS. These relate to forging cooperation in specific sectors such as SMEs, Standards, NTMs, IPR, e-Commerce, Single Window and Working group on trade.

BRICS countries complement each other's economies. Its formation is a distinct indicator of the emergence of a multipolarity on the international stage. However, the global governance structures do not reflect the reality and this is where urgent changes are required.

The participation of New Development Bank in the Trade Fair is a welcome development. NDB lends strength to the BRICS by extending timely credit. It also provides scope to work on Sustainable Development Goals in BRICS, particularly those relating to trade and investment and economic growth for tackling poverty and unemployment.

With the services sector increasingly contributing to global trade as well as GDP of individual economies, India has taken a lead in services in the context of BRICS in WTO.

The Commerce Minister said, "The gathering of more than 1000 entrepreneurs from BRICS and BIMSTEC countries under one platform gives an opportunity to discuss trade, investment and technology collaborations during this 3-day fair."

Rita Teaotia, Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, said the trade fair is the follow up of the announcement by PM Modi during the last BRICS ministerial meeting in Russia.

She said post the Trade Fair announcement, immense awareness has been created which has resulted in participation of over 400 companies and 1000 entrepreneurs from BRICS countries.

She mentioned that innovation and start-up is very significant component of the Fair in which general public has also been given free access. She explained how BRICS as emerged as a powerful block with ability to influence the global economic order. BIMSTEC forms an important extended group to BRICS. As far as the intra BRICS trade is concerned it remains largely untapped and the trade fair would hopefully give an opportunity for industry to connect and enhance this intra BRICS trade. She highlighted the areas of common interest which includes agriculture, IT, tourism, skill development among others.

She said that the BRICS Trade Fair is exhibiting the state of art technology, showcasing the best technology and advances in industrial development, providing important dimension for driving intra-BRICS trade and bring all relevant institutions under one platform.

Marcos Pereira, Minister of Industry, Foreign Trade and Services, Brazil, said BRICS is an important economic block that represents 23 percent of world GDP. The trade has been increasing manifold which shows the dynamism of partnership in BRICS. However, the real potential is yet to come. "We are collectively working towards it with government, business and other key stakeholders from all the countries to realize the true potential," he said.

He mentioned about some important progress that have been made in terms of establishment of cooperation in MSME, promoting entrepreneurship, joint ventures in services sector, intellectual property among others.

"We need to work towards taking off the non-tariff barriers and create transparency so that the needs of the industry can be met," he said.

Alexey Likhachev, First Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Russia, congratulated BRICS for the Trade Fair and hoped that this initiative becomes a tradition and an incentive in furthering the BRICS development work.

He said that in near future, BRICS should focus on industries and development of localization of industries. He said the Russian delegation is going to visit the Indian state of Maharashtra. As far as the sectors are concerned, he focused on shipbuilding and oil and gas industry.

He said that the BRICS Trade Fair shows that India is ready to unlock the BRICS potential and added that Russian representation is highest in the Trade Fair with good participation from high-tech industry.

Dr. Rob Davies, Minister of Trade and Industry, South Africa, hoped that the BRICS Trade Fair will be a permanent part of the B2B architecture of BRICS. He said that the trade ministers have inaugurated a process of cooperation on key areas including BRICS single window, trade promotion working group, to name a few.

He said that we need to accelerate efforts to move up the value chain and understand that we are the cusp of advance technology advancement. "We need to adopt it in the framework of sustainability and inclusiveness. Our task essentially should be to find models in which we support entrepreneurs and industrialization and bring business community together to develop trade relations. We need more projects in all BRICS countries where each member country participates and brings us closer by working together."

Wang Shouwen, Vice Minister of Minister of Commerce, China, said India has undergone a tremendous positive change. He said that as global scenario weakens, BRICS continues to boast of huge domestic markets and show signs of better performance down the road.

He mentioned that BRICS account for 23 percent of global GDP and this figure indicate that BRICS have great potential in trade and investment field.

He said that the China South Asia Expo which was also a successful platform to attract companies from BRICS nations. He elaborated on China’s One Belt One Road Initiative and looked at it as connecting Europe and Asia. He concluded by looking forward to taking over the BRICS presidency by China and said that we all need to work together to inject viability in the BRICS mechanism.

The 1st BRICS Trade Fair is being organised by the Deptt of Commerce, with FICCI as the lead Chamber, and others on 12-14 October 2016 in New Delhi. Over 600 exhibitors are showcasing their products and expertise at the BRICS Trade Fair, spread over 30,000 sq. m. of exhibition space. The expected footfalls at the 3-day Fair is 10,000 plus visitors.