BRICS BUSINESS COUNCIL

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The BRICS Business Council was established during the Fifth BRICS Summit held on 26th - 27th March 2013 in Durban, South Africa. The objective of creating the council was to constitute a platform which will:

• Promote and strengthen business, trade and investment ties amongst the business communities of the five BRICS countries;
• Ensure that there is regular dialogue between the business communities of the BRICS nations and the Governments of the BRICS countries; and
• Identify problems and bottlenecks to ensure greater economic, trade and investment ties amongst the BRICS countries and recommend solutions accordingly.

Each BRICS member country has nominated one chair and four members to the BRICS Business Council.

From India, Mr Onkar S Kanwar, Chairman, Apollo Tyres has been nominated as the Chair of the BRICS Business Council. The other members from India of the council are:

• Mr Pankaj Patel, Chairman, Cadila Healthcare
• Mr. Jai Shroff, Chairman & CEO, UPL Ltd
• Mr. Sanjiv Puri, Chairman and Managing Director, ITC
• Mr. Dinesh Kumar Khara, Chairman, State Bank of India

FICCI has been designated as the nodal agency by the Government of India to act as the technical secretariat for the BRICS Business Council.

The first meeting of the BRICS Business Council was held on 19th-20th August 2013 in Johannesburg, South Africa. In a joint statement following the first BRICS Business Council meeting, the council comprising five business leaders from each BRICS country agreed to promote public-private partnerships among the five emerging economies.

The council also agreed to focus its collaboration efforts in areas such as infrastructure, mining and minerals beneficiation, value-added manufacturing, and sustainable development.

BRICS Business Council Working Groups

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Nine working groups in the areas of Infrastructure, Manufacturing, Financial Services, Energy & Green Economy, Skills Development, Agribusiness, Deregulation, Aviation and Digital Economy have been formed under the aegis of the BRICS Business Council.

The main objectives of these Working Groups are to facilitate interaction amongst businesses with a view to better understand the market opportunities and build synergies based on their respective competitive strengths and to promote industrial development and job creation.

Other Links

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• BRICS Business Council
• BRICS Working Groups