Trade Minister: BRICS Agrees on Majority of Trade Substance

Indonesian Trade Minister Budi Santoso stated that trade ministers from BRICS nations agreed on the majority of substance from their meeting, although a joint statement was not achieved. Speaking at the closing session of the BRICS Trade Ministers’ Meeting (TMM) in Jaipur, India, on Friday (7/8), Minister Budi emphasised Indonesia’s commitment to strengthening a fair, inclusive, open, and transparent rules-based multilateral trading system. “Indonesia fully supports BRICS’ concrete initiatives to strengthen trade, ranging from facilitating financing access for MSMEs, building more resilient supply chains, to encouraging digital transformation. This is important to create more inclusive and sustainable economic growth,” Minister Budi said in a statement in Jakarta on Sunday. The BRICS TMM discussed four main points. The first was a commitment to strengthening the multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core, placing development as the main focus, ensuring special and differential treatment for developing countries, and restoring the two-tier dispute settlement system. The third point was the Workplan on BRICS Shared Understanding on Global Value Chains to strengthen resilient, efficient, inclusive, and sustainable global value chains, including through the digitalisation of trade documents, enhanced connectivity, and the strengthening of special economic zones and industrial capacity. The fourth was the BRICS Principles to Facilitate Digitally Delivered Services Across Borders, which encourage cross-border digital services trade, expand intra-BRICS trade, improve digital skills, and strengthen the digital economy in developing countries. Amid rising global trade challenges, BRICS member countries need to strengthen concrete economic cooperation to maintain international trade stability and support the growth of developing countries. “Indonesia emphasises the importance of maintaining a rules-based multilateral trading system through a strong, inclusive, and adaptive WTO to global challenges. At the same time, BRICS needs to continue to present concrete cooperation that provides direct benefits for the economic growth of developing countries,” Minister Budi stressed.