Katyrin: the Time of the Pandemic Changed the Work of the BRICS Business Council
“During the pandemic, there has been a great shift in organizing joint
work and developing solutions on the most difficult and topical issues of
developing business cooperation,” said Sergei Katyrin, President of the
Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, speaking on
Tuesday August 31 at the annual meeting of the BRICS Business Council. The
meeting was held remotely - the President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce
and Industry participated in it from Vladivostok. Katyrin heads the delegation
of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation participating
in the Eastern Economic Forum - 2021, which takes place in Maritime Kray.
The President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry thanked his
Indian colleagues for continuing the Russian initiative to hold the BRICS
Best Practices Competition and expressed hope that the format for exchanging
best practices on topical issues of the BRICS socio-economic development
will become traditional for Business Council. Following the results of the
BRICS Best Practices Competition for Achieving the Sustainable Development
Goals this year, two Russian projects from Russian Railways and En + Group
were recognized as the best in their nominations. In particular, in the
nomination "Goal 7 - Sources of Inexpensive and Clean Energy" the winner
was the Russian Railways company with a project of a heat installation using
old-year wooden sleepers as fuel. The essence of the project is the use
of wooden sleepers, unsuitable for re-laying on the way, to provide heat
supply to railway transport facilities. In the category "Goal 6 - Clean
Water and Sanitation" the best environmental project was "360" from the
En + Group. The annual environmental project "360" En + Group is part of
a comprehensive program to protect Lake Baikal and protected areas of Russia
from adverse environmental impacts. The history of the project began in
2011. Today, in addition to annual large-scale cleanings, 360 volunteers
build eco-trails, plant trees, improve the tourist infrastructure, and help
specially protected natural areas. In his remarks Katyrin also noted the
high organizational and content level of the online format of the BRICS
Business Forum and the BRICS Virtual Exhibition. “The virtual exhibition
is our first joint experience,” stressed the President of the Chamber
of Commerce and Industry. “The organization of the BRICS virtual exhibition
area is a valuable acquisition for the Business Council,” Katyrin said.
According to him, "this topic has good prospects within the framework of
the Business Council as a tool for practical communication of entrepreneurs,
search for partners, promotion of relevant goods and services within the
BRICS, and the development of project activities." The trade show took place
on August 16-18 in a virtual format. More than 550 companies from the BRICS
countries are registered on the exhibition platform. The developed platform
allows companies not only to organize a virtual exposition, but also to
post materials about the company, to schedule and hold B2B meetings. Katyrin
noted the active work and productive dialogue of the working groups in all
areas. According to him, colleagues from the working groups have done a
really great job and the result of this work is a draft annual report with
a solid package of interesting recommendations. Onkar Kanwar, Chairman of
the Indian section of the BRICS Business Council, Jackson Schneider, Chairman
of the Brazilian section of the BRICS Business Council, Captain Xu Lirong,
Chairman of the Chinese section of the BRICS Business Council, Busi Mabuza,
Chairman of the South African section of the BRICS Business Council also
addressed the meeting participants with opening remarks. By Peter Cheremushkin
