BRICS to set up platform for technology and information exchange

New Delhi, Dec 7 (IANS) BRICS countries have agreed to institute a platform for creating opportunities for exchange of technologies among themselves.

The decision on the platform, that would also serve for exchange of experiences and good practices for enterprise among member countries, was taken at a meeting here earlier this week of the BRICS Contact Group on Economy Trade and Investment.

"There was a decision (Contact Group) that we would create a platform for exchange of experiences, good practices and opportunities... basically opportunities in terms of availability of technology," Amar Sinha, joint secretary in India's commerce ministry said.

The Contact Group also decided to create data bases of exports and imports, as well as a data base and platform for exchange of information for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) of BRICS countries.

"For SMEs to access information is not that easy, unlike for large corporations which do have the resources to get information," Sinha told a forum here Thursday on "BRICS and a Changing Global Economic Landscape" organised jointly by O.P. Jindal Global University, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade and the Getulio Vargas Foundation of Brazil.

"Most of our (BRICS) small and medium enterprises are contributing hugely to economic growth and the export market," Sinha said.

In this regard, Sinha mentioned the "very interesting" Russian proposal for a BRICS technology platform so that technology could be taken from the laboratory to the factory for its successful commercialisation.

Emphasisng that BRICS aims to reform the global financial institutions, Paolo Estivallent de Mesquita, director of Brazil's Department of Economic Affairs said: "We can only change the international economic governance structure through joint action and discussions are on about setting up the BRICS Development Bank."

According to Sinha, the Contact Group meeting this week discussed the road map for BRICS laid out at the New Delhi Summit of leaders earlier this year.

"BRICS is turning into a reality and has emerged as a serious forum for emerging economies. It has led to us being invited to be part of the G-20 nations group," said Sinha.

"Our greatest success is on the issue of multilateral trade negotiations. We have established a mechanism of regular contacts among ourselves," Sinha added.