BRICS approve India's proposals at Contact Group on Economic and Trade Issues held in July

In a recent development, members of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) agreed to take forward India's proposals that were circulated in the 2021 BRICS meeting on Contact Group on Economic and Trade Issues (CGETI). The decision was taken in a meeting that was held on July 12-14, 2021.

During the three-day-rendezvous, the member countries of BRICS deliberated on proposals distributed by India in a bid to strengthen and increase the intra-BRICS cooperation and trade, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in their statement. 

These proposals are as follows; 

• BRICS Cooperation on Multilateral Trading System; 

• BRICS Framework for ensuring Consumer Protection in E-Commerce;

• Non-Tariff Measures (NTM) Resolution Mechanism for SPS/TBT Measures;

• Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Working Mechanism;

• Cooperation framework for the protection of Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Traditional Cultural Expressions;

• BRICS Framework on Cooperation in Professional Services.

BRICS Meeting to be chaired by India 

Interestingly, BRICS members agreed to take forward India's proposals to finalise the subject matter before the BRICS Trade Minister's meeting scheduled on September 3, 2021 and will be chaired by Commerce and Industry Minister, Piyush Goyal.

In another fold of events, India had further proposed events to deepen and strengthen the trade and economy that were agreed by fellow members.

• A BRICS Trade Fair will be organised by the Department of Commerce to showcase and to have buyers and sellers via virtual meet between August 16-18 2021;
• A roundtable of BRICS MSMEs on July 22 shall be organised by the Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises;
• Two workshops on Services Trade Statistics will be organised by the Reserve Bank of India which will be held on July 16 and August 12 

BRICS Education Ministers' conclave in July 2021

BRICS Education Ministers participated in the 8th meeting of the 13th BRICS summit that is being hosted by India. Education Ministers from the five BRICS countries signed a joint declaration that aims to strengthen their academic and research collaboration in higher and vocational education. MoS for Education Sanjay Dhotre chaired the 8th BRICS meeting Highlights were as follows;

• Ministers acknowledged the need of leveraging digital and technological solutions to ensure quality inclusive education. The member states agreed to generate and expand their knowledge base. This move is expected to help them in formulating initiatives in this regard;

• Ministers agreed to facilitate the creation of mechanisms that would allow sharing of knowledge and practices like seminars, policy dialogues, interactions with experts;

• Ministers also agreed on facilitating the mobility of students and faculty among BRICS partner states, besides encouraging joint and dual degrees between higher education institutions in BRICS countries;

• Ministers also recognized Technical and Vocational Training and Education as a priority area for every BRICS country and expressed their commitment to promote collaboration in this area.

What is BRICS?

BRICS is the group composed of the five major 'emerging' countries which together represent about 42% of the world's total population, 23% of GDP, 30% of the territory and 18% of global trade. They are viewed as the five largest economies in the world. Since 2009, an annual meeting of heads of state and government is organised. The final composition concluded after incorporating a country from the African continent as well. They aim to establish the fairest international governance which is suitable to national interests of each nation in concern.