BRICS trade ministers meeting bears fruitful results

BRICS countries have signed deals spanning trade, investment, intellectual property rights protection, and technical exchange to promote multilateral cooperation, Chinese minister of commerce said today on conclusion of the 7th Meeting of BRICS Trade Ministers in Shanghai. 

Agreements were reached in facilitating trade, boosting investment, enhancing trade of services, e-commerce, and intellectual property rights protection, building a multilateral trading system, and strengthening economic and technical cooperation, said Zhong Shan, Chinese minister of commerce and chairman of the meeting.

“The meeting fully demonstrated the BRICS spirit of openness, inclusiveness, and win-win cooperation,” Zhong said. “It came up with remarkably fruitful results and laid a solid foundation on the trade and economic front for a successful BRICS Summit in Xia'men in September.”

Ministers have approved the establishment of the BRICS Model E-Port Network to improve trade efficiency among BRICS countries. 

Under the initiative, members are encouraged to share information and experiences in building E-Ports and host dialogues and workshops to improve connectivity.

To expand trade of services, ministers approved a road map that will start from enhancing cooperation in tourism, education, and medical service sectors.

Concrete measures will be taken to improve the collection of statistics, improve service quality, coordinate cross-border regulations, and break language barriers to facilitate trade of services.

Zhong said BRICS countries have huge potential to expand the trade market as the five countries accounted for a fourth of the global economy, although they only generated 11 percent of the world's total trade of services.

E-commerce will also be boosted to bring more foreign products from BRICS countries to people's tables.

Ministers approved the BRICS E-commerce cooperation initiative to help upgrade the e-commerce industry, create jobs, and lift small businesses into the global value chain.

In protecting intellectual property rights, ministers agreed on guidelines to promote exchanges and cooperation on IPR legislation and enforcement.

To boost investment, another engine for global economic growth and job creation, outlines were drawn to enhance transparency of investment policies, simplify investment-related administrative procedures, and improve professional services.

It is the first time that major tasks were outlined to encourage multilateral investment as part of China's contribution to improve the global investment environment.

On top of that, ministers also agreed to act against trade protectionism by committing to safeguarding and developing the multilateral trading system.

"We should jointly tackle the challenges of economic globalization, promote an open and equitable world economy, and uphold the common interests of emerging markets and developing countries with a view to promoting strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth," a statement from the meeting said.