BRICS Business Council

Accelerating a Sustainable and Inclusive COVID-19 Recovery

A 3-part series of live discussions to be held in May 2021

The Leadership

The current Council, which was appointed by the Minister of Trade & Industry, Mr Rob Davies in January 2019, is made up of the following luminary business leaders:

Ms Busi Mabuza (Chair)
Dr Ayanda Ntsaluba
Ms Bridgette Radebe
Mr Elias Monage
Dr Stavros Nicolaou

The Working Groups

The Council executes its mandate through working groups. Nine working groups have been established in the areas of:

Infrastructure
Manufacturing
Financial Services
Energy & Green Economy
Skills Development
Agribusiness
Digital Economy
Aviation
Deregulation

The main objectives of these Working Groups are to facilitate interaction and cooperation amongst the business communities with a view to better understand the market opportunities, build synergies and promote industrial development and job creation.

Introduction

The BRICS Business Council was established during the Fifth BRICS Summit held on 26th – 27th March 2013 in Durban, South Africa. The objective of creating the council was to constitute a platform which will promote and strengthen business, trade and investment ties amongst the business communities of the five BRICS countries, ensure that there is regular dialogue between the business communities of the BRICS nations and the Governments of the BRICS countries; and identify problems and bottlenecks to ensure greater economic, trade and investment ties amongst the BRICS countries and recommend solutions accordingly.

To constitute a platform that will promote and strengthen business, trade and investment ties amongst the business communities of the five BRICS countries by:

1. advocating the value of BRICS to all stakeholders

2. fostering regular dialogue between the business communities and Governments of the BRICS nations and all other stakeholders

3. identifying problems and bottlenecks to greater economic, trade and investment ties amongst the member countries and recommending solutions

4. advancing South Africa’s brand internationally

5. assisting in fostering a relationship with Government that creates a regulatory environment conducive to strengthening and promoting economic, trade, business and investment ties

BRICS is a force to be reckoned with

42 % of the world’s population (3 600 000 000 people live in BRICS countries)
26% of the worlds geographical area
30% of the Global GDP
account for approximately 30% of global GDP, which is projected to surpass the size of the G-7 economies by mid-century.

Principal Stakeholders

Strategic Partners

Regional Partners

Background

The BRICS Business Council was first launched at the BRICS Summit in 2013 in Durban. It was at the launch of the BRICS Business Council, that the idea of a “BRICS” Bank to fund development within BRICS and developing countries was first proposed. The New Development Bank (NDB) was launched two years thereafter and the NDB African Regional Centre was established in Gauteng in 2017. This is a notable achievement

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