OREANDA-NEWS. President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Sergey Katyrin attended a session of the BRICS Business Council which took place in South Africa's capital Johannesburg on the 19th and 20th of August, 2013.

The participants in the meeting focused on measures to boost business, economic, industrial and investment ties between the BRICS countries and Africa.

On Monday, August 19th, the participants held a closed-door meeting to discuss the agenda of the session and the BRICS Business Council's plan for 2013-2014.

South Africa's President Jacob Zuma and leaders of the national divisions of the BRCIS Business Council spoke at the Council's meeting on Tuesday, August 20th.

During his speech, Sergey Katyrin said that one of the priority issues on the agenda of the BRICS Business Council is to encourage business circles in all member countries to establish partnerships while pursuing multilateral business projects, and to promote multilateral investment. The Russian representatives in the Business Council are more than serious about all issues related to its activity, particularly since it was Russia's initiative to create such an alliance, Sergey Katyrin said. Russia is prepared to provide extensive support for all initiatives aimed at fostering economic cooperation among BRICS countries. Sergey Katyrin expressed confidence that the newly created alliance would secure the adoption of proposals on the implementation of large-scale joint projects in the interests of all BRICS countries.

Russian businesses are interested in establishing cooperation both with the BRICS countries and countries of Africa. Russia's representatives in the Business Council are planning to focus on the promotion of bilateral and multilateral projects that are being implemented or will be launched by the BRICS Group in the near future; support of multilateral investment projects; and promotion of business ties between the BRICS countries at international forums and exhibitions.

Russian representatives in the Business Council believe that in addition to creating an information exchange platform, each national division of the Council should have its own website. These resources should be linked to the business information exchange network. Also, it's important to create a single database on the most promising economic projects of the BRICS countries. It'd also be a good idea to set up an electronic secretariat at the Business Council and hold regular teleconferences. And as part of information exchanges, it'd be advisable to launch news bulletins that would inform readers about projects of the BRICS Business Council.

According to Sergey Katyrin, a successful resolution of these issues will guarantee greater involvement of businesses, particularly medium-sized ones, in the BRICS economic activity.

Affiliated meetings in the form of panel discussions which took place on August 20th focused on specific steps to boost trade, economic, industrial and investment ties between the BRICS countries and Africa. The participants analyzed the situation in a large number of economic and financial sectors, including infrastructure, mining, development and processing of mineral resources, the services sector (information and communication technology, healthcare, tourism); the production sector; the energy sector, and the green economy, and discussed measures to support small, medium and large-sized businesses.

The above panel discussions were followed by workshops on how to set up competitive international joint ventures and companies with foreign equity participation in particular branches of the economy.