Transcript

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Esteemed President Ramaphosa, ladies and gentlemen, friends,

I am pleased to greet representatives of government institutions and business, specialists and industry experts who have gathered for this meeting of the BRICS Business Forum.

I would like to note that holding such business forums on a regular basis, along with the systemic work of the BRICS Business Council, which brings together top businessmen and heads of major companies of the five countries, plays an immense practical role in promoting mutual trade and investments, enhancing cooperation ties and expanding direct dialogue among the business communities – and thus effectively contributes to accelerated socio-economic growth of our states and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

It is important that this Forum focuses on such pressing issues as the post-pandemic economic recovery of the BRICS states, improvement of citizens' well-being, industrial modernization, development of effective transport and logistics chains, and stimulation of equitable technology transfers.

These challenging and complex tasks need to be tackled against the backdrop of the increasing volatility in stock, currency, energy and food markets, coupled with substantial inflationary pressure stemming from, inter alia, the irresponsible large-scale money creation by a number of countries seeking to mitigate the effects of the pandemic, which has led to the accumulation of private and public debt.

The global economic situation is also seriously affected by the illegitimate sanctions practice and illegal freezing of assets of sovereign states, which essentially amounts to the trampling upon all the basic norms and rules of free trade and economic life – norms and rules that not so long ago seemed immutable.

Shortage of resources, growing inequality, rising unemployment, and aggravation of other chronic problems in the global economy are the direct consequences of this. Prices for food, basic agricultural products and crops are forced up, making the most vulnerable, poor countries suffer the most.

Importantly, under these circumstances, the BRICS states have stepped up their interaction, and our joint work to ensure economic growth and sustainable development brings concrete, tangible results. More and more new infrastructure and investment projects are being launched, mutual trade is growing, industry contacts are expanding.

The main thing is that our cooperation is based on the principles of equality, partner support, and respect for each other's interests. And that is what lies at the core of our Association's forward-looking strategic course – the course that reflects the aspirations of most of the world’s community, the so-called global majority.

The figures speak for themselves. Over the last decade, mutual investments among the BRICS countries have increased six-fold. Their overall investments in global economy have doubled, and their total exports have reached 20 percent of the world exports.

As for Russia, the trade volume with our BRICS partners has increased by 40.5 percent, reaching a record of over 230 billion US dollars. In the first half of this year it grew by 35.6 percent compared with the same period in 2022 and constituted 134.7 billion US dollars.

I would also like to point out that the share of the BRICS countries, with their population totalling more than three billion people, now accounts for nearly 26 percent of the global GDP; our five countries are ahead of the G7 in terms of purchasing power parity (the forecast for 2023 is 31.5 percent against 30 percent).

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