The substantial unrealized potential remains in the field of services trade, especially taking into account the growing digitalization of trade within this sector and mutual private investments which have a very low share in the BRICS overall inward and outward foreign direct investments (FDI). Therefore, additional practical tools for the support of these activities are needed. Collective efforts should be also increased in the fields of trade facilitation and technical regulation to support regional value chains in the post-pandemic period.
Main progress was achieved in technical and technological cooperation: the BRICS Partnership on New Industrial Revolution was established, the BRICS Institute started activities to promote cooperation in the field of advanced technologies and innovation, the formation of the BRICS Green Technology Platform was initiated, an Internet platform for technology exchange among BRICS countries has been launched in the promising framework of BRICS – UNIDO interaction. In the period 2015—2020, no special measures, programs, or projects, apart from research, were carried out to develop practical cooperation on the optimization of industrial value chains as well as on the development and improvement of minerals production and processing efficiency. Sustainable functioning of industrial value chains may become an operational priority for BRICS in the post-pandemic period.
The cooperation in the field of energy has been intensifying with the annual energy ministers' meetings complemented by regular activities by the Committee of BRICS Senior Officials on Energy, the working group on energy conservation and energy efficiency, and mechanisms for consultations on energy issues within other fora and organizations. We witnessed the launch of the BRICS Energy Research Cooperation Platform (ERCP) and ever-increasing activities within the BRICS Youth Energy Agency (BRICS YEA). NDB has supported 14 energy projects in all five countries totaling more than $3.5 billion. However, the practical involvement of real market participants in energy cooperation within the framework of BRICS is still insufficient. Therefore, there is a need for further development of practical mechanisms to encourage energy companies, scientific and educational organizations to participate in the proposed BRICS cooperation formats. Over the past 10 years, the turnover of agricultural products and food between the BRICS countries has almost doubled in value terms: from 19.883 million USD in 2010 to 39.892 million USD in 2019. This result is especially indicative against the background of the global dynamics — the average annual growth of trade turnover in value terms between the BRICS countries amounted to 9.6% against the global 3.3%.
The leader in the growth of agricultural commodity turnover between BRICS countries is Russia — 258%, followed by South Africa — 146%, India — 131%, Brazil — 94%. Significant growth is also seen in physical terms: from 34.653 thousand tons in 2010 to 74.205 thousand tons in 2019, amounting to 2.14 times. This testifies to the growth of commercial attractiveness of national agricultural food markets and decrease of tariff and technical barriers in trade. The BRICS countries presented national experiences in implementing social support programs for food security and nutrition elements and identified further areas for collaboration on social support with food components.
