MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The BRICS summit will take place October 15-16 in Goa.
"For our five countries’ leaders this meeting will be a good opportunity to harmonize our positions on key issues on the international agenda. We are determined to cooperate in the fight against terrorism, drug trafficking and corruption. We will also contribute to settling conflicts and ensuring international information security," Putin said.
According to the Russian president, all BRICS states are concerned with persisting instabilities in the global economy.
"Together with our partners we will reflect on what can be done to further unite our efforts in order to address these challenges," he added.
Russia is promoting active cooperation between BRICS member-states, particularly in the sphere of electronic commerce, Putin said.
"The Russian side has proposed more than 60 projects, a kind of a road map, which could be implemented in cooperation with its BRICS partners (with a single partner or with all of them). I believe that if we manage to jointly determine partners for the implementation of these projects, it will be an important step towards the modernization of our countries’ economies," Putin said.
According to the Russian president, the projects are part of the action plan that is being prepared as part of the Strategy for Economic Partnership adopted during Russia’s BRICS presidency.
"Russia also supports enhanced cooperation in electronic commerce (including analysis of key barriers between the countries in this sphere, development of the best regulatory practices, etc.), in trade facilitation (with involvement of the Eurasian Economic Commission), supporting small and medium-sized businesses (launching a web portal for BRICS small and medium-sized businesses), and protection of intellectual property," Putin said.
Putin: BRICS Cooperation Must Be Strengthened, Broadened
Cooperation within the BRICS format is already yielding results and it is necessary to continuing strengthening it in various spheres, Putin said.
"I think the cooperation within BRICS has already begun to yield practical results. It is essential to continue work on consolidating these results and on identifying areas of common interest," he said.
According to the Russian president, there are currently over 30 different formats of BRICS inter-agency cooperation in the political, economic, humanitarian, security and law enforcement areas.
"The establishment of the New Development Bank (NDB) and the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement with the total capital of $200 billion is a concrete example of this cooperation. I am convinced that, as the bank gets stronger, its output will only increase, including by means of projects that promote integration among the BRICS countries," Putin said.
The Russian president recalled that the NDB has already approved projects in all five BRICS member-states.
"The priority at the current stage is renewable energy. In Russia, this implies the construction of small 50 MW hydropower plants in Karelia worth $100 million," Putin explained.
"Thus, the BRICS countries have undertaken a commitment to implement the Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting. We seek to systematically converge our stances in the WTO [World Trade Organization] with a view to improving the rules and spurring up multilateral negotiations within the organization," Putin said.
The Russian president will come to India for the BRICS summit due to be held on October 15-16 in Goa.
BRICS is an association of five developing economies which comprise over one third of the world’s population. BRICS member-states (China, Russia, Brazil, India and South Africa) have a combined nominal GDP equivalent to approximately 20 percent of the gross world product.
