Articles
№1 2024 MAGAZINE GUEST

SERGEY KATYRIN. THE MAGNIFICENT TEN

SERGEY KATYRIN: «The agenda of the BRICS Business Council will include the topic of the artificial intelligence»
The chairman of the BRICS Business Council in 2024, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) of the Russian Federation, Sergei Katyrin, spoke in an interview with the ‘Eurasian Dialogue’ magazine about the tasks set by the BRICS Business Council in the year of Russia’s chairmanship in the association.

– Mr Katyrin, what are the key tasks facing the participants of the BRICS Business Council?

– The BRICS Business Council was established in 2013 to discuss the issues of strengthening and promoting economic, trade, business and investment ties between the business communities of the participating states.

The key tasks are to identify the common problematic business issues and formulate recommendations for their resolution, which are sent to the leadership of states.

The Business Council includes nine working groups in various areas – from ecology to the digital economy.

– This year the BRICS membership expanded; the UAE, Egypt, Ethiopia and Iran became the new members. How will this affect the work of the Business Council?

– It is now extremely important that the new member states join the work of the BRICS Business Council as quickly as possible. We raised this issue with the foreign ministries of the BRICS states, including at the first Sherpa/Sous-Sherpa meeting held on February 1. We hope that in the near future we will receive answers to our ‘signals’ that we sent to the new members.

– Are there plans to optimize the activities of the working groups of the BRICS Business Council?

– We have started this work. There are a number of proposals to reorganize their structure, as well as to expand аnd deepen the work agenda. In some cases, we propose reformatting individual working groups, and in others, strengthening the leadership team.

– Can you please elaborate on that?

– For example, within the framework of the working group on infrastructure, we intend to create a subgroup on transport and logistics. We consider this issue agreed upon at the level of the leadership of the national parts of the BRICS Business Council. In the future, during the year of our chairmanship, we set the task of turning this subgroup into an independent working group.

This is precisely the task that Russian transport workers and logisticians involved in BRICS trade require us to solve. Next is the digital economy. The topic of artificial intelligence is added to the group’s agenda.

Therefore, we are currently in the process of agreeing on its new name with our partners – the ‘Digital Economy and Development of Artificial Intelligence’. The agenda of another working group, the ‘Energy and Green Economy’, will include the topic of climate, which we consider highly relevant within the framework of the association.

Unfortunately, the working group on small aircraft did not develop as expected during its period of operation. We are currently working towards merging this working group with the working group on industry. We are coordinating this issue with our BRICS partners.

– Can you share the content of the events of the BRICS Business Council?

The plan is very extensive. We have taken under our wing about 20 different forums, conferences and competitions.

All these events will be announced in the corresponding section of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (www.brics.tpprf.ru) and reflected on the official website of the Russian BRICS Chairmanship (www.brics-russia2024.ru).

We also plan to publish reports on the events carried out there. Regarding the events of the BRICS Business Council, I will list the most significant ones.

One of these is the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-2024), which will be held from June 5 to 8. This year it will be opened by a large-scale forum called ‘BRICS Partnership for Development’. Unlike the traditionally held BRICS panel session, the format will be significantly expanded.

This will be preceded by a competition of bakers of the BRICS states (May, Moscow, VDNKh). And according to the established tradition, the Annual Competition of BRICS Best Practices in the Field of Sustainable Development will be held in September. VEB.RF is also planning to hold the BRICS Financial Forum in the fall.

As for the key events within the Business Council, they will take place on October 17-18 in Moscow at the World Trade Center. Namely, the events are the final meetings working groups and the annual meeting of the BRICS Business Council (October 17) and the BRICS Business Forum (October 18).

The culmination of our agenda will be the meeting of the leaders of the BRICS Business Council with the heads of the BRICS member states on October 22 in Kazan. On October 21, the teams of leaders of the national parts of the Business Council are scheduled to move from Moscow to Kazan.