Saudi Arabia
Source: https://arab.news

The traditional September diplomatic highlight is the UN General Assembly, but next month there is strong competition from global summitry that includes the BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation forums.

Leaders from Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan will convene for the SCO summit on Sept. 16-17. The SCO is still a relatively little-known grouping, but covers about 60 percent of the Eurasian continent where 3 billion people live, almost half the world's population. It could grow, with Iran, Mongolia, Belarus, and Afghanistan observers in the group, while Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Cambodia, Nepal and Sri Lanka are dialogue partners.

Important as the SCO is, the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) capture much more of the international limelight. This is partly because the five powers are increasingly flexing their muscles on the world stage, pushing for an international order with a bigger role for developing nations.

While the origin of SCO lies in defense and security, it is economics that drove the formation of the BRICS, reflecting the fact that the five powers account for about a quarter of global GDP, and over 15 percent of world trade. In its first decade, the bloc became a more cohesive force with a strong desire to advance itsdevelopment strategies by coordinating macroeconomic policy.

However, the bloc is increasingly prioritizing political cooperation, exemplified by this year's Indian presidency. The four priorities for New Delhi in 2021, with the leadership summit on Sept. 9, are enhancing intra-BRICS anti-terrorism cooperation; enabling greater people-to-people interaction; delivering the Sustainable Development Goals; and reform of the multilateral system to deliver on what BRICS says is a common ambition of sovereign equality of all states and respect for territorial integrity. This emphasis on reforming the multilateral order is also showcased in broader BRICS projects, such as the creation of the New Development Bank as an alternative to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

The bank finances infrastructure and other projects in the BRICS, and a related $100 billion special currency reserve fund. One driver is the perception that it will allow BRICS to better promote their interests abroad, strengthening positions and opinions which are sometimes ignored by Western colleagues.

Another recent initiative, perceived to challenge US and wider Western preponderance in information technology, was agreed when the BRICS signed a letter of intent to cooperate in the sector.

These examples underline the hunger of the BRICS to become even bigger political players, raising fears in some quarters that the bloc could ultimately become a unified anti-Western alliance. However, this is most unlikely in the immediate future, and the bloc will probably not decisively move beyond an increasingly institutionalised forum for emerging market cooperation any time soon.

Part of the reason for this is their diverse interests, as illustrated by Beijing's periodic tensions with New Delhi. This has been one driver of the so-called anti-China Quad of powers comprising India, the US, Japan and Australia.

At the same time that BRICS are stepping up their political cooperation, there is growing skepticism of the relevance of the group as an economic club given the diverging long-term economic trajectory of the powers. Before the pandemic, generally robust economic performance in China and India over the past two decades contrasted with disappointing results in Brazil, Russia, and South Africa. However, even India went into recession in 2020 while China was the only major global economy to grow.

Despite diverging fortunes, the BRICS' share of global GDP has grown by over 10 percentage points from about a decade ago, and this is having a major global impact. World Bank research has shown that for the first time in about two centuries, overall global income inequality appears to be declining, driven by the emerging market powers. At the same time, however, there is an opposing force — growing income inequality within many countries. This has assumed growing political salience helping fuel populist, nationalist politicians such as Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro.

With these pressures pushing against each other, the net global trend for the past 200 years has been toward greater overall income inequality. But there is growing evidence in the past two decades that the positive effect of growing income equality between countries is superseding the negative effect of increasing inequality within nations.

When the pandemic recedes, it is unclear whether this dynamic has enough momentum to keep driving forward a more equitable world order. This will therefore be one of the major agenda items at September's BRICS summit, given the concerns that the fragile process could yet go into reverse, especially if growth in China and India flattens significantly in the 2020s.

Andrew Hammond is an Associate at LSE IDEAS at the London School of Economics.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of InfoBRICS.

India
Source: www.mea.gov.in

Good Afternoon from New Delhi!

1. At the outset, allow me, as the BRICS Sherpa, to extend a very warm welcome to you on behalf of the India BRICS Team. This is a proud moment and we are truly excited about the possibilities, for space, they say, is the final frontier.

2. As the current Chair of BRICS in 2021, we have maintained momentum on intra-BRICS cooperation across all three pillars of our engagement, namely - Political & Security, Economic & Financial and Cultural & People to People- despite the continuing challenges of the pandemic. The theme for our Chairship - 'BRICS@15: Intra-BRICS cooperation for Continuity, Consolidation and Consensus' is a fitting tribute to the 15th anniversary milestone of BRICS and is reflective of BRICS priorities in this era of transformation.

3. We are grateful to our BRICS partners for extending their full support to the priorities chosen by us, which include Reform of the Multilateral System; Counter Terrorism Cooperation; Using Digital and Technological Solutions for achieving SDGs and Enhancing People to People Exchanges. I am pleased to share with you that BRICS has made strong progress on each of these areas this year. The finalization and adoption of the Agreement on the BRICS Remote Sensing Satellite Constellation is a significant feather in our cap and an important milestone for BRICS engagement. It will play an important role in improving the lives of our citizens in numberous ways.

4. Today's meeting of Heads of Space Agencies and the Signing Ceremony will bring into force this Agreement which has been under negotiation for over four years. While I am pleased that the Agreement has finally been concluded under India's Chairship this year, I wish to acknowledge and express my gratitude for the tremendous work done by previous Chairs of BRICS over the past few years in helping us inch closer to consensus. This Agreement is our collective achievement and for that please accept my heartiest congratulations.

5. As you are aware, for you have crafted this Agreement of cooperation, the BRICS Remote Sensing Satellite Agreement will help accelerate cooperation between BRICS countries in the peaceful use of outer space with use of data and applications across an array of sectors such as research on global climate change, agriculture and food security, disaster management and water resource management, amongst others. This will be a significant contribution of BRICS towards the socio-economic development of our countries and peoples and would help us advance our targets on the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and its goals. This is also a fitting example of the work we are pursuing under the priority area of using digital tools for achieving SDGs. This achievement will naturally find applause when BRICS leaders meet for the BRICS Summit next month.

6. I am confident that this marks only the beginning of our cooperation and collaboration on exploring the peaceful use of outer space for the socio-economic development of our people in areas defined under this Agreement. I look forward to hearing your views on the future prospects for our engagement including on space cooperation and capacity building and sharing, and wish you all the best for a fruitful and productive meeting today. Thank you!

India
Source: brics2021.gov.in

The 5 th meeting of BRICS Industry Ministers was held virtually on 18th August, 2021 at 1700 hrs. (IST) under the Chairship of India. Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution and Textiles, Republic of India, chaired the meeting. This meeting was attended by respective Industry Ministers of BRICS Countries (Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa).

India chose the theme of BRICS@15: Intra BRICS Cooperation for Continuity, Consolidation and Consensus for its Chairship, this year.

In the 5th Meeting of BRICS Industry Ministers held on 18th August 2021, the Joint Declaration was adopted.

Ministers recognized the unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 pandemic particularly in the fields of trade and industry. They complemented all the COVID warriors, our doctors, nurses, paramedical staff and scientists, across all the BRICS countries, for their selfless and tireless efforts in saving our lives.

They appreciated the need for adopting the emerging new technologies in a swiftly changing world and recognized this as an important tool for modernization and transformation of industry, promotion of inclusive economic growth, thus helping BRICS national economies to meet the Sustainable Development Goals.

They agreed on the need to build human resources in line with the changing requirements accelerated by the new emerging technology to promote training and skills development of the related workforce and businesses through workshops, seminars, and exchange programs.

They reiterated their commitment to making efforts to foster an open, fair, and nondiscriminatory trade environment, ensure greater participation in global value chains, promote digital inclusion, assess the implications, and encourage progressive, safe, equitable, and sustainable use of disruptive technologies for advancing growth.

They expressed their intention to collaborate with the New Development Bank (NDB). India expressed the desire to expand the horizon of NDB and resources be utilized for strengthening of social infrastructure besides promotion of Industrial sector.

The meeting concluded with the BRICS Industry Ministers reaffirming their commitment to work together as a group, complement the strengths of each other, share best practices and learn from weaknesses, and move ahead in a positive and constructive manner to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Russia
Source: infobrics.org

Vladimir Davydov, Scientific Director of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) Institute of Latin America, RAS Corresponding Member, Chair of the Scientific Council of the Russian National Committee on BRICS Research – special for InfoBRICS

The experience of the BRIC/BRICS has already gone over a decade. And it allows us to draw certain conclusions. I think that from the height of today we have sufficient arguments to state the following.

Firstly, the BRICS format has found its place in the system of influential international associations that are able to develop and promote initiatives on a consolidated basis aimed at achieving a transformation of the world order corresponding to the realities of international community in the 21st century.

Secondly, the experience gained suggests that differences in the political structure of the states of the association and value orientations create their own difficulties, but are not an insurmountable obstacle to multilateral cooperation and interaction. In other words, the pentalateral mechanism of strategic partnership in the BRICS format is able to work for the long term, overcoming market deviations.

Third, by realistically assessing the situation, we are able to understand the costs of existing differences. So, in a certain sense, they affect the dynamics of interaction. Today, in the practice of BRICS, we notice a certain "pause" in some areas.

Fourth. The BRICS countries are civilizationally heterogeneous societies, but their objective national-state interests are associated with the revision of the previous world order, accompanied by the rejection of unilateral hegemony or at least, of course, its limitation. We are talking about a real, not a declarative expansion of the zone of multilateralism. This applies not only to individual development decisions, but also to the possibility of consolidation on a pentalateral basis. Civilizational heterogeneity is not a barrier, but a basis for active mutual cognition. Hence the need to accentuate cooperation in the field of culture, in a wide field of humanitarian ties. And this aspect of work within the BRICS remained underrepresented. Meanwhile, in the conditions of the "pause" I have noted, it is advisable to increase the scale of cooperation in the mentioned field.

Fifth. Consolidation in the BRICS format will receive powerful impulses if it can rely on the achievements of the modern technological revolution, especially in the field of digitalization. At the same time, it is important to widely use the combination of competitive advantages in each specific case. In this regard, I would once again draw your attention to the project of the Technological Alliance, which I proposed at the academic forum in Brazil in 2019. The same applies to cooperation in education and enlightenment naturally.

Sixth. I think that a self-evident thing will provide fertile ground for consolidation in the BRICS format. I`m talking about a biomedical platform to counter the pandemic effects. It is logical and timely to assume the formation of a ministerial-level coordination structure for biomedical safety.

When we talk about the consolidation of the BRICS both in the state format and in the format of civil societies, we cannot ignore the topic of sustainable development. There are many nuances in the positions of the BRICS countries in each national case. But these are largely similar reserves and adjustments compared to the platform that is being built in the zone of the "collective West". Considering that the concept of sustainable development, which was elaborated mainly within the UN, is beginning to be perceived as a kind of "common denominator" of the key concerns of the international community. At the same time, it is important to find the application of this denominator to the positions of the five countries.

India
Source: www.moneycontrol.com

India wants to raise it's level of trade with the disparate group of economies of the BRICS nations other than China. A detailed exercise to identify market demand, ease customs rules and push forward agreements on technicalities of trade is currently in progress, sources say.

The government is quickly moving to expand India's exports to and overall trade ties with the BRICS nations. The latest push comes before India is set to host the 13th BRICS Summit in September.

The Commerce Department is currently giving final touches to its internal reports that pinpoint the areas where trade can be quickly ramped up between the nations of the grouping - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. This comes after a push by the Prime Ministers Office on the issue.


Barring trade with China, India's trade with the 15-year old nation grouping has not expanded nearly as much as New Delhi had earlier hoped for. India hopes to fix this through a combination of targeted exports based on demand in these markets, easing of rules of customs, trade and standards and a greater political will.

India's total trade with the BRICS countries in 2020-21 stood at $ 110 billion in 2019-20, which rose to $ 113.3 billion in 2020-21, despite the Covid-19 pandemic. India's trade figures for the grouping is heavily dictated by it's trade with China ($86.4 billion in FY21). The latest rise was also majorly due to a rise in trade with China.

"However, a pickup in ocean trade in the latter part of the FY21 financial year meant that trade with Brazil and South Africa ended the year with small increases while that with Russia contracted to a much smaller degree than we anticipated. This shows there are deep business linkages already in place, which just need to be expanded," a senior Commerce Department official said.

India is currently the chair of BRICS and has led efforts to maximize trade over the past year. In July, a 3-day meeting of the BRICS Contact Group on Economic and Trade Issues (CGETI) saw members deliberate on a series of proposals circulated by New Delhi. These focused on non-tariff measures (NTM) resolution mechanism, a sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) working mechanism and more cooperation on the multilateral trading system, among others.

Sources said other nations are expected to finalize the proposals dealing with the technicalities of trade before the next BRICS Trade Minister's meeting, set to be held on 3 September and to be chaired by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal.

The fifth industry ministers meet at a time when global trade and investment growth has significantly accelerated as pent up demand pushes up shipment flows after more than a year and half of the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic.

Targeted action

The primary reason for the relatively low trade between India and the three BRICS nations barring China is due to their geographical distance which in turn leads to high trade costs.

Reducing this high cost is at the forefront of the government's plan. Raising trade volumes through more business-to-business connections and promotion of Indian products in these nations are being sought. At the same time, New Delhi is actively advocating for open and free trade, and the removal of tariffs wherever possible, sources said.

Also, India's exports to both Brazil and Russia are heavily dependent on commodities, the trade of which is highly volatile in nature owing to sharp price fluctuations. Case in point, India's major exports to Brazil include chemicals, organic or otherwise while those to Russia include large amounts of agricultural products, chemicals, plastics and rubber.

However exports to South Africa, the nearer of the three, have increasingly focused on finished goods, such as pharmaceutical products, automobiles and heavy machinery. Overall, India is keen to provide more handholding to companies operating in these sectors to further raise bilateral business.

However, a key part of this plan continues to be missing as sources say that an agreement signed in November, 2019 among trade and investment promotion agencies of member nations to facilitate greater trade has seen scant movement.

UAE
Source: www.bignewsnetwork.com

New Delhi [India], August 16 (ANI): A virtual BRICS Trade Fair 2021 with over 600 exhibitors from the group members will be held between August 16-18, 2021.

The BRICS Business Forum 2021BRICS Trade Fair 2021 is being organised in the run-up to the BRICS Political Summit planned for September 2021.

Ministry of Commerce and Industries in collaboration with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) are organising BRICS Business Forum 2021BRICS Trade Fair 2021 to be held from August 16-18, 2021 on a virtual platform, said an official release.

This year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the BRICS Business Forum will be held via videoconference with a theme of 'Strengthening BRICS Business Connect for Sustainable Growth and Development' from August 16-18, 2021.

The BRICS Business Forum 2021BRICS Trade Fair 2021 is going to be the most prestigious and the largest platform for the BRICS companies to meet and network with counterpart businesses from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Over 2,000 pre-fixed B2B meetings and participation of over 20 investment agencies from BRICS nations will offer a platform for members of the BRICS Business Community to discuss and deliberate on key economic cooperation areas and make recommendations on intra-BRICS trade and industry issues, said the release.

"The virtual edition of BRICS Trade fair is one step in this direction to enhance trade amongst the BRICS nations and forge new alliances. The virtual Exhibition Centre will host exhibitors from across the BRICS nations, wherein they will showcase their products and capabilities, project their achievements, and engage in discussions to advance their business prospects," said Amit Yadav, Director General Foreign Trade, Government of India.

The BRICS Trade Fair was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a special initiative from India to foster business connections amongst companies from the five countries in 2015. The second edition of the BRICS Trade Fair is being organised virtually.

The sprawling virtual Exhibition Centre plays host to exhibitors from across the BRICS nations, giving them a productive landscape to showcase their products and capabilities, project their achievements, and engage in discussions to advance their business prospects, said the release. (ANI)

China
Source: infobrics.org

Five years ago in 2017，NDB issued its General Strategy 2017-2021 to support sustainable infrastructure development．This year is the closing year of the General Strategy．In the past five years，what experience and success have NDB achieved in its sustainable development investment？ And what role did China play during this process？

Leslie Maasdorp：The New Development Bank was started in 2015 at a time of heightened global awareness about sustainability．The Bank has sustainability hard-coded in its DNA．The founding documents of the NDB，called the Articles of Agreement"mandates the Bank to finance sustainable infrastructure and therefore gives unequivocal policy guidance to all the operations as well as the capital markets activities of the institution．As we know the global community adopted the Sustainable Development Goals in September 2015 and three months later in December 2015，the historic Paris Agreement on Climate Change was signed．These landmark moments laid the basis for the green，sustainable and low carbon policies adopted by the Bank．

It came as no surprise therefore that the NDB announced in April 2016，that its first five projects were all green and renewable．In the same year，after obtaining a AAA credit rating in China，NDB issued its first Bond as a Green Bond，which cemented the sustainability credentials of the institution． ESG is central to the investment criteria when the Bank assesses its projects from the concept stage．The Bank maps and reports the alignment of each of its projects with the relevant SDGs． Overall，every project which we finance is implemented in a sustainable way and their ESG impacts are assessed，minimized and mitigated during project implementation．

Chinese regulators，most notably the People's Bank of China （PBOC） and NAFMII played a vital role in enabling the development of the Green Bond market by issuing coherent guidelines which created an enabling environment for institutions like NDB to issue green bonds． NDB has become the largest issuer of Panda Bonds in the China onshore market with a registered program of RMB20bn．In 2021，NDB successfully issued the first SDG Bond in China domestic market，in partnership with UNDP．

The Bank aims to be a leader in sustainable finance and will explore new bond issuances in the sustainable format including blue bonds to finance our investment operations in the water sector．Currently，the NDB's China portfolio consists of diversified loans including solar power，off-shore wind power，low-carbon restructuring projects，water-related projects which all fit in the ESG criteria of the Bank．

SINA FINANCE：We have learned that NDB issued three-year sustainable bonds worth $2.25 billion in international capital markets in July，and this was the bank's fourth and largest operation to place dollar bonds in international capital markets．Would it be possible to share briefly regarding how NDB promotes global sustainable development through raising green bonds？

Leslie Maasdorp：NDB is committed to do most of its domestic and international capital markets activities in the green and sustainable format．The most recent dollar bond issuances of the Bank were labeled as sustainable and pandemic support bond as the net proceeds will be used for financing sustainable development activities and providing emergency support loans to enable the economic recovery in the Issuer's member countries．In March 2020，NDB pledged a total of USD 10 billion in crisis-related assistance including health and social safety expenditures， as well as supporting member states economic recovery．

In addition to the USD dollar bond，NDB issued an RMB 5billion Sustainable Development Goal bond in the China interbank bond market in March 2021．The Sustainable Development Goals （SDG） bond was issued under the UNDP Sustainable Development Goals Impact Standards for Bonds UNDP SDG Standard）as well as the SDG Finance Taxonomy China）．NDB is proud to be the first pilot issuer to use the UNDP SDG Standard as well as the SDG Finance Taxonomy China）in the Debt Capital Market．

To advance its funding capabilities to the next stage，NDB has established the Sustainable Financing Policy Framework which describes the Bank's principles in governing the use and management of the proceeds of Green，Sustainability or ESG bonds issuance．The Bank aims to guide all the ESG bond issuance under this Framework and to be ICMA standard aligned． There is massive appetite globally for the ESG debt instruments and NDB， along with other MDBs， aims to be the pioneer to fill this gap．

SINA FINANCE：In addition to the issuance of sustainable bonds， what measures and actions NDB has taken to mobilize private sectors in BRICS countries to participate in ESG practice？Could you introduce the ESG performance of Chinese investment institutions and enterprises？

Leslie Maasdorp：NDB endeavors to disseminate its ESG experience and knowledge to the member countries through various channels．In 2020，NDB completed a series of reviews of environmental，social and procurement country systems of all five member countries and engaged with countries regulatory agencies and government agencies for consultations and dissemination of the studies findings．NDB also conducted a series of ten information dissemination and capacity-building workshops for its clients in all member countries on managing environmental，social and procurement risks in projects financed by the Bank．These thematic workshops concentrated on the use of country systems，NDB's core policy requirements and areas that require further interventions to bridge the gaps between country systems and NDB's policy requirements．

In terms of private sector，NDB is in the process to build up its private sector portfolio in member countries， to complement its existing portfolio of sovereign loans．In the process，NDB intends to strengthen its links with relevant national and global players in the infrastructure sector to help draw experience from projects that entail significant ESG considerations．

SINA FINANCE： In the post-epidemic era， sustainable development，ESG investment and international cooperation have become topics of common concern internationally．And many people have been aware of the current insufficient supply of ESG talents with multiple backgrounds．In May，your remarks on establishment ceremony of Xiamen Torch Academy also mentioned nurturing talent and promoting innovation．Could you share with us your suggestions and expectations for ESG talent development in China？

Leslie Maasdorp：In the NDB's 2nd 5-year general strategy， the Bank has committed to attract，nurture，and retain talents so as to continue building NDB into a talent-intensive Institution．A Talent Management Division under the Human Resources Department will be set up and dedicated to this goal．

For NDB，talent development is about investment in the future via nurturing the youth．As a young bank，NDB has the advantage to build up its unique talent pool of young high-achieving individuals who are encouraged to question the status quo and explore new frontiers by developing new ideas and approaches．In this sense，NDB aims to use its young workforce， with current average age of 32，as a competitive advantage．

NDB is designed to be an ideal home for ESG talent．The Bank is setting up a new ESG department which will aim to attract ESG professionals from all the relevant disciplines including finance， treasury，risk，investment operations，legal and compliance．Our Treasury team for example are closely monitoring the trends in the global capital markets to explore new frontiers in sustainable finance．

SINA FINANCE：Finally，let's go back to NDB's next five-year strategy． Compared with General Strategy 2017-2021，what is NDB's view and growth trajectory in terms of ESG？Which direction will the focus be laid out？

Leslie Maasdorp：With the growing portfolio and focus towards mainstreaming sustainability in the Bank's operations，NDB and its shareholders assign great value to enhancing the Bank's development results via ensuring sustainability of NDB-funded projects and replicating best practices from across the industry into our projects．

NDB's creation of a new ESG Department will reinforce the Bank's commitment to environmental and social standards that are in line with our members country systems and will contribute to addressing global challenges of combating inequality and climate change．NDB aims to make sustainability and ESG considerations cross-cutting themes across the various aspects of Bank's activities．

India
Source: brics2021.gov.in

Under the India's BRICS Chairship, the BRICS Space Agencies Heads have signed an agreement for cooperation in remote sensing satellite data sharing on August 18, 2021 in the presence of Mr. Sanjay Bhattacharyya, Secretary (CPV&OIA) & India's BRICS Sherpa, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India and other officials from respective external/foreign affairs Ministries.

Dr. K. Sivan, Chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)/ Secretary, Department of Space; Mr. Zhang Kejian, Administrator, China National Space Administration (CNSA); Dr. Val Munsami, Chief Executive Officer, South African National Space Agency (SANSA); Mr. Carlos Augusto Teixeira De Moura, President, Brazilian Space Agency (AEB); and Dr. Dmitry Rogozin, Director General, State Space Corporation "Roscosmos" have signed this Agreement.

This Agreement enables building a virtual constellation of specified remote sensing satellites of BRICS space agencies and their respective ground stations will receive the data. This will contribute in strengthening multilateral cooperation among BRICS space agencies in meeting the challenges faced by mankind, such as global climate change, major disasters and environmental protection.