India urged greater intra-BRICS trade in each other’s currency for protection from fluctuations causing losses, while the five major emerging economies agreed to set up a joint ‘single window clearance mechanism’ for ease of doing business and cooperate in areas including e-commerce and Intellectual Property Rights.
Speaking on Thursday at the launch of the first BRICS Trade Fair, India’s Vice President M. Hamid Ansari said: “We (BRICS countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) need to increase our trade in each other’s currency to further pluralise trading currencies and lessen the use of a single dominant currency.”
“Transition to trade in national currencies will reduce the risk volatility and protect us from adverse fluctuations, which often cause huge economic and trade losses,” he added.
Mr. Ansari said BRICS would need to push services trade liberalisation, including through measures for easier movement of people for commercial activity. “The proposal for a BRICS visa on a long-term basis for genuine travellers is one such effort aimed at stimulating greater economic activity by enhanced mobility of our entrepreneurs,” he said.
BRICS countries account for 43 per cent of the world’s population, 15 per cent of global trade and 20 per cent of the world’s investment flows. However, intra-BRICS trade in 2014 was just $297 billion — less than five per cent of the $6.5 trillion worth trade that the five countries had with the world that year.
Besides creation of a business-friendly environment for investors and entrepreneurs, BRICS nations should support value-added trade to transform from being raw material providers into key players in the global economy, Mr. Ansari said.
In a bilateral meeting, China agreed to look into India’s demand for greater market access for rice, pharmaceuticals and IT services.
