First BRICS Trade Fair in Delhi on October 12-14

New Delhi, Oct 3 (IANS) The first trade fair of the BRICS countries will be held here next week on October 12-14, as well as meetings of the BRICS Business Forum and BRICS Business Council, ahead of the leaders' summit in Goa, the Indian government said on Monday.

"The first BRICS Trade Fair and Exhibition will be staged just ahead of the BRICS political summit in Goa (October 15-16, 2016). This major initiative was proposed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, last year during his address to the members of the BRICS Business Council at Ufa, Russia," a Commerce Ministry release here said.

"There is a need felt for measures to be taken to deepen intra-BRICS economic engagement, trade and investment ties," it added.

India is the chair for 2016 of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) group of emerging economies.

Their upcoming trade fair will be held at Pragati Maidan exhibition grounds in the national capital. According to the release, the trade fair will showcase about 20 key sectors.

These include aerospace, agro-processing, auto and auto components, chemicals, green energy and renewables, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, railways, textiles and apparel, infrastructure, IT, engineering goods, tourism, gems and jewellery and skill development.

"The BRICS Trade Fair will be a platform for respective BRICS countries to exhibit the state-of-the-art technologies and advances made in industrial development," the ministry statement said.

Besides, business leaders from BIMSTEC countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand) also have been invited for meetings and discussions with the BRICS business leaders and companies at the trade fair, it added.

According to the Commerce Ministry, the BRICS Business Forum, to be held on October 13, will see participation from over 1,000 business delegates from all BRICS countries.

The BRICS Business Council was established during the fifth BRICS Summit in Durban, South Africa, with the objective of strengthening business, trade and investment ties amongst the business communities of the five countries.

"The council will hold focused seminars and workshops concurrent with the Trade Fair," the statement said.

Global merchandise exports of BRICS countries have gone up from $3.2 trillion in 2012 to $3.47 trillion in 2014.

Similarly, merchandise imports from the world into BRICS nations have gone up from $2.95 trillion in 2012 to $3.03 trillion in 2014.

In 2012, intra-BRICS trade stood at $281.4 billion and this increased to $297 billion in 2014.

"This encouraging trend needs to be strengthened as trade amongst BRICS nations is less than 5 per cent of their total global trade," it said.

The most important development under BRICS has been the creation of the New Development Bank which aims to serve as a source of finance for developing and emerging economies to meet their developmental needs, it added.