Durban - This weekend's business meeting of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) is an important strategic element to address trade bottlenecks among the five countries and also to identify projects for investments, South African Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said on Saturday
Davies said the role of the BRICS Business Council to identify problems and bottlenecks and recommend solutions, as well as to identify intra-Brics projects for investments and increased exports could not be overemphasized.
"The BRICS Business Council is a crucial element of the BRICS bloc due to the critical role that it plays in promoting and strengthening business, trade, and investment ties among the business communities of the five BRICS countries," Davies said in a statement.
"The council is also mandated to ensure that there is regular dialogue between the business communities of the BRICS nations and the governments of the BRICS countries."
Davies will on Sunday address the council's sixth annual meeting in Durban. Business people from the five countries will use the gathering to exchange ideas on a variety of pertinent issues related to trade promotion, investment, trade in services, development aspects of e-commerce, intellectual property rights, and small and medium enterprises, among other things.
The meeting is part of the build-up to the 10th BRICS summit scheduled to take place in Johannesburg from Wednesday next week.