Thank you, Minister sir. chair council South Africa former My honor to presenting from nations powerful fact over 40% of the Security technology. Finance technology. CEO UPL limited. He's comp. good technology but does not know the right partner in another country. An entrepreneur has an idea but needs to access finance or a new market. If we can solve these practical problems, I believe we can unlock a great deal of business in our country. Sometimes the obstacles technology can help do this. What we are interested, what is interesting today was the technology came up in almost every conversation, not just the digital session. We heard about the role of supply chain and helping small businesses. That is important because opportunities we can create should not be limited to a large company. They should also reach small businesses to support their international a woman entrepreneur trying to enter new market or a startup looking for a first partner in a business ultimate ultimately that is the what we are looking for. We spent a great deal of time identifying what bricks can do. The next step, what the bricks can build together, a new investment, a new technology partnership, strong supply chain partner, a startup entering a new market, two companies meeting and deciding to build something together. We can make more of these things happen. The business cooperation within become very real and very meaningful. We have the scale. We have the capability entrepreneur in it need to connect. bricks business community stands ready to work together with our government to translate the shared ambition into greater prosperity, resilience, innovation and sustainable growth across. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Sh. I now invite the honorable minister of foreign affairs of the federated Brazil, his excellency to address the gap. This beached, >> your excellency, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Your Excellency President Vladimir Putin, Your Excellency President, Your Excellency, President Mas Peskan, business representatives, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to start by conveying President Lula's warmest regard and his vision of a very successful He was not join us today general election in Brazil week for bricks and particularly business dimensions bricks they need transformation. scans within the global to our GDP. attention. Bricks has consolidated sectors closer together more relevant than ever. backdrop of crisis has made a difference towards economic partners. Major partners member countries exchanges the third largest investment in the world. This for level of more than companies is the strength of the present future of the partners in Britain. development, sustainable, renewable, bioconomy. supports improving environment. Often the state can create forging concrete bonds. However, our political priorities of economic instruments to exert political pressure have made the economic environment in which countries operate more complex. The question is what is bricks response to these challenges? We believe that the true strength of bricks is not confined merely to the size of its members economics. Rather, it becomes more apparent when these capacities are transformed into a network of trade, investment, and joint financing. That is a transition from potential cooperation to operational one. Dear colleagues, the Sun Republic of Iran believes that economic resilience is not possible without diversifying trade partners, sources of financing and payment channels. Iran has faced extensive sanctions over the past years. However, in recent months, these pressures have entered a far more dangerous phase as a result of the military aggression. as a result of the military act of aggression of the United States and the Israeli regime against the Islamic Republic of Iran. This act of aggression in addition to his human and material losses once again revealed an important reality. Economic security cannot be separated from national and regional security. Whenever the trade, energy, infrastructure or financial system of a country comes under political or military pressure is its effects extend beyond that country's borders and can affect regional stability and even the global one. Therefore, by creating resilient capacities for the e economies of its members and the global south, bricks must create an environment in which no country can disrupt the legitimate trade of another another country through monopolizing a financial instrument or technology. In order to increase intrabricks trade, we must move from fragmented cooperation towards the gradual integration of trade infrastructure. In this regard, several measures are of particular importance, including digitalization and integration of customs procedures and trade facil facilitation, reduction of regulatory and administrative barriers, development of crossber markets and facilitation of joint private sector investments. We also propose a strengthening cooperation in a standardization so that bricks may evolve from a market for the exchange of raw materials into a network of value chains and joint industrial production. Food and energy security are two fundamental pillars of economic security and the Sun Republic of Iran with its vast energy reserves and outstanding ge geographical position is prepared to play the role of a strategic partner embrace energy, food and transport supply chains. Distinguished participants, one of the most important steps is to expand the use of national currencies in trade among the members. This step must be accompanied by the establishment of the necessary instruments for managing currency risks and reciprocal settlements. Since the current financial system is vulnerable to political shocks due to its concentration on a limited number of currencies, in order to transform trade cooperation into real investment, the new development bank must become the principal engine for financing infrastructure and energy in member countries through dedicated credit lines, financing and local currencies. and guarantee instruments for attracting private capital. Dear colleagues, another specific proposal of the Sun Republic of Iran is the establishment of a BRICS joint reinsurance company with an initial capital of $10 billion to cover the risks of major infrastructure and energy projects and increase private sector confidence. We also we are also on the threshold of a fundamental transformation in the global economy with the advent of artificial intelligence. Bricks should not merely be a consumer of technology. Rather, it must play a role in knowledge production and in shaping the standards of the digital economy while at the same time strengthening the cyber security of critical infrastructure. Ladies and gentlemen, the BRICS business council must evolve from a forum for dialogue into an executive engine of economic cooperation. is a specialized working groups must define a specific and measurable projects based on clear indicators such as the rate of growth in intrabricks trade, the share of national currencies in trade and the volume of private capital mobilized. The S republic of Iran with its outstanding geographical position and energy resources is prepared to serve as one of the important links of bricks econ economic connectivity. We believe that bricks will become a real force in the global economy when our cooperation is reflected in contracts, factories, ports and the economic lives of the people of member countries. The Republic of Iran stands ready alongside all BRICS members to strive towards building a more open, resilient and equitable economy. Thank you for your attention. >> May I now request the president of the Republic of South Africa, His Excellency Seriel Ramosa to share his thoughts with us. Program director, fellow leaders, your excellencies, ministers and deputy ministers amongst us, members of the diplomatic community, business leaders who are here in their great numbers, esteemed chairpersons and members of the BRICS business council. Ladies and gentlemen, let me begin by congratulating the chairpersons and members of the BRICS business council and the working groups on the sustained work they undertake throughout the year to make the business forum of bricks to be as successful at is it as it has become. That work is essential to turning the ambitions of bricks into meaningful economic cooperation. Our shared task is to translate the ideas, the recommendations and partnerships that have been developed and are being developed through the council into tangible economic growth and development for the BRICS member countries and partner countries. The BRICS Business Council was established during South Africa's first bricks presidency in 2013 in recognition that economic cooperation cannot be the responsibilities of governments alone. As South Africa, we are very proud that we have 120 companies from South Africa represented at this business forum. That is a great achievement. In instead we need a compact. Government creates the enabling conditions and environment for trade and investment and business should seek the opportunities for production and commerce in our various countries. Our economies have confronted profound challenges over the intervening years due to the challenging geopolitical environment that is caused by unilateralism by sanctions and by the conflicts that continue to ra arise around the world. Yet we have also shown that adversity can create opportunity. Resilience is not simply the capacity to withstand disruption. It is the capacity to transform disruption into new capabilities and partnerships. The question is no longer whether there is potential within bricks but whether we have the ambitions, whether we have the instruments and the partnerships to convert this potential into economic value for our people. The council must serve not simply as a forum for consultation but as a mechanism for developing commercial relationships and productive partnerships. As bricks, we find ourselves at an inflection point. As the global economy is reshaped, as trade patterns shift, as technological advances accelerate and climate pressures increase, countries and companies are compelled to reconsider where they source and produce and invest. For us, this is an opportunity to shape a more resilient, diversified, and inclusive economic future for the global south. For too long, developing economies have participated in global value chains mainly as suppliers of raw commodities and consumers of goods that are made elsewhere. value creation, technology and higher value manufacturing remained concentrated elsewhere. We should not reproduce the curtain that curtain within the expanded bricks. Our ambition must extend beyond increasing intra bricks trade to de to deepening the productive relationships between our economies. We cannot accept a future for instance where countries that have resources such as Africa continues to supply minerals on which the next generation of industries depend while value addition and manufacturing take place elsewhere. If we are to change where value is created, we must also change where investment is directed. We must direct investment towards manufacturing and beneficiation and adding value to the products that are extracted in our various countries. We must develop industrial technologies, energy systems, infrastructure as well as logistics. Companies must invest not only to access markets but to establish production facilities and develop local capabilities. As governments and business communities, let us make bricks a platform through which investment and trade reshape existing economic curtains and thereby transform the destinies of our various bricks countries and the people who live in our countries. I thank you. Thank you, your excellency. We're now honored to hear from the president of the Russian Federation, His Excellency Vladimir Putin to address the gathering. >> Thank you very much. I thank you dear friends, excellency, honorable prime minister, colleagues, excellencies, heads of state, friends in the audience representing the business communities of our countries. Our today's event as a tradition is a prelude to the bricks summit and this august assembly shows the growing interest in strengthening business contacts and relationships across the bricks space. It is evident that reliable businessto business ties and economic partnerships that is the backbone of international economic relations. It helps build these relations in a stronger resilient manner. It helps overcome the problems the world is facing. And right now the world is undergoing structural deep profound shifts which is explained by the fact that the so-called old leaders which used to be the vanguard of economic growth in the second half of the 20th century are being replaced by new engines of growth. Certainly when I say old, this is just a formality. All of us, we understand what we're talking about. And these so-called old leaders are still in possession of great, strong suits and well-developed infrastructure, technological advantages, scientific advantages, scientific schools, and so on and so forth. That said, this isn't the nature of things. This is in the nature of humanity and in the nature of economy that changes cannot be stopped. The world is always changing and this is attested to by the objective facts. over the last 5 years and I think these statistics have already been cited by our colleague from Indonesia over the last 5 years more than 40% of the world GDP have been produced by the bricks countries whereas the contribution of the so-called G7 the green 7 I don't know why they call that the group of seven it stands at only 29%. This is the case. Now speaking about the growth of the world economy over the same period, we see that more than half of that growth has been accounted for by bricks whereas the G7 has only accounted for 18%. Why is that? The answer is simple. The BRICS countries account for more than half of the world's population and that is why they have a great dynamic vibrant domestic market. Our countries see an explosion of growth of urban settlements. Urbanization is happening very fast and national companies are on the ascendant demonstrating themselves to be world leaders. Mahindra a company from India offers IT and AI based solutions. The Chinese UI as a global technological giant of worldrenown whereas Brazil's empire has strong positions in aerospace industry whereas DPO from the UAE is a company that is working efficiently in logistics. Whereas Russia's Ross Aam has been recognized as the world's top one company in peaceful nuclear energy and there are many other success stories from our business community but behind each and one of us is uh hard work on a daily basis. I made great competition and competition is something I would like to dwell on more because uh we have been told for quite some time that competition is the sacred science not to be touched by our western competitors are doing everything to get back there while competitive edge and sometimes this competition is taking some ugly forms and this is something our colleague from Iran has spoken about these ugly forms is something we see even at the state level, at the government level. Sometimes there are measures resorted to of a physical nature when pipelines are being destroyed, when attempts are undertaking to block international transport corridors to seize maritime vessels. Other illegal restrictions are being applied. And there's also the threat of so-called secondary sanctions against those who do not want to follow someone else's interests and rather looks after their own. And I know Kulix can site hundreds of examples to support that. But you know that more than 30,000 sanctions have been slapped on Russia which is twice as much as the number of all sanctions against all the other countries of the world combined. This is the statistics. Against this difficult backdrop, Russia has been working actively relying on its business, science, education, engineering, schools, on our personnel, on Russian citizens. And Russia has managed to achieve great success. We've reinforced our national sovereignty. We're developing ties with reliable, predictable partners. Over four years only the geography and the scope of our foreign trade have been transformed entirely. Russian economy has kickstarted some structural economic changes which have rendered our economy more resilient, more agile and more mobile during the last three years. The world grow the economic growth in Russia has been superior to the world average. In 2023 2024 the GDP grows by 10.3% whereas the unemployment rate has decreased to a record low of 2.3%. We have greenly large scale technological innovations such as the implementation of AI autonomous systems digital platforms and cuttingedge financial instruments. These innovations are mostly based on our domestic Russian solutions as well as on solutions from our partners in Vicks. All of that is yet another testimony that even amid uh very hard restrictions from the outside, we can set forth ambitious goals and be successful in achieving them. There's another thing we've got to state and accept. The countries that initiated the sanctions pressure are facing the problem of industrial decline and budget deficit. They cannot follow suit. They are facing some very difficult consequences and this is not just pure speculation. This is what we can judge of based on their statistics. I've spoken about their budget deficit, about their growing public debt as well as industrial decline. All these are facts of life in Euro zone the leading economies and I'm not going to name them specifically but they are facing a decline of industrial output of 8% over the last several years and this is a very big figure for them. Whereas our goal is to tap into the potential of development for our countries for the sake of our nations. To pursue business diplomacy, to make sure that our companies and our entrepreneurs find it easier to find partners, pay and invest in our countries. at the same time far from us to isolate ourselves either at the government level or at the corporate level. We're not against anyone and what we are doing is not against anyone either. We are in favor of our interests and we stand ready to work together with all of our partners, old ones and new ones. We are open to working with the whole world and I'm confident that the business council is become the mechanism that gives an additional impetus to our trade and economic ties. It'll help implement numerous projects in infrastructure, logistics, finance, technological cooperation and elsewhere. In order to intensify these activities, Russia has set up a national committee for business cooperation which counts more than 40 biggest Russian companies. This committee seeks to build a substantive program for cooperation with foreign partners. I would like to reiterate, Russia is open to interesting, promising initiatives in tourism, industry, and trade. together with our partners will stand ready to contribute to world energy and uh food security to building reliable logistic routes such as the Arctic transport corridor and the north south transport corridor. We also intend to reinforce our cooperation in personal training and applied research and smart technology uh unmanned transport and so on and so forth. But in order to be successful in that regard, we need funding and the NDB is already doing a lot. And based on the NDB, Russia proposes that a new investment platform should be set up which will be trying to secure funding from private sectors and make our economy more competitive. We're hopeful that this idea will be supported by our partners and other bricks members uh distinguished friends through the combined efforts of the government, private sector, academia and the rest. Bris is building a resilient and viable platform for global growth. The most important elements of these growth are not being imposed on anyone from the outside. It's not being imposed on us by the so-called golden billion. Nor are we trying to impose anything on anyone else. Our approaches are based on innovative and cutting edge solutions. We prioritize national interests of our respective countries and pursuing these goals. Yes, this work is very difficult, very meticulous and insiduous. But the BRICS countries have shown they are ready to work hard to cooperate on an equal footing to see a shared future and they are up to any challenges that might arise and that means that our endeavors will be met with success. I would like to wish you all the best. Thank you. Thank you your excellencies. Excellencies, distinguished leaders and guests, as chair of bricks for 2026, it is India that brings together the voices and perspectives we have heard today. It is my profound honor to invite the honorable prime minister of Bharat, Shri Narendra Modi, to deliver the concluding address. Excellencies, >> excellencies, >> business community, >> leaders of the bricks business community, innovators and friends. >> Namaskar. Bricks Business Forum. >> A very warm welcome to all of you at the Bricks Business Forum. >> This year we are celebrating >> 20 years of bricks. When brick was launched in 2006, it was a group of just four countries. Today, bricks and bricks partners together are our family of 21 countries. Today bricks countries represent 50% of the world's population, >> 40% of the world's GDP and more than 25% of global trade. Not just that over the last 20 years whereas global GDP has increased about two and a half times the combined GDP of BRICS countries has grown about 4 and a half times that is the economic strength of bricks has increased at about double double the speed compared to that of the rest of the world. Today, bricks countries are becoming important centers of global innovation and solutions. From grassroots to frontier technologies, new possibilities for innovation are taking shape in our countries. The increasing scale, speed and optimism of bricks can be clearly seen among us. This forum being held in India is the biggest bricks business forum organized so far. >> Friends, The theme of India's bricks chairship is building for resilience, innovation, cooperation and sustainability over the last 12 years. India has made this mantra the basis for its trade and economic policy. If we speak about resilience whether it is energy or technology, India has made supply chains more diversified and reliable. The consequence of this resilience is that even amid global uncertainties, India inspires confidence in growth and stability. Today we are expanding roads, railways, ports and airports at a fast pace. At the same time, we are also building new capacities in strategic sectors such as ship building, semiconductors, quantum, critical minerals and biotechnology. In these sectors, India is becoming a hub of new opportunities for global businesses. Therefore, make in India, innovate with India and scale for the world. Friends, today a startup revolution is taking place in India with over 200,000 startups and over 120 unicorns. Today, India is becoming a hub for global solutions and you can see a glimpse of this in the brick bharat innovates expo. Our startups are transforming education and healthcare through AI. They are working on green hydrogen and batteries and they are also crossing new frontiers in defense and space. Now through bricks we need to make these worldclass innovations reach global markets. Innovation at population scale unified payments interface UPI. Another specialtity of India's innovation story is innovation at population scale. India's unified payments interface has given new momentum to financial inclusion and digital transactions at a population scale. Today 50% of the world's realtime payments take place on this very technology and to build new solutions on this digital layer. We have provided an open ecosystem to the industry and startups. We are extremely proud that many countries are adopting India's world car class ecosystem. Innovators from the BRICS nations too can develop new solutions for their own countries based on this experience. Friends, at a time >> when trade barriers are rising across the globe, India is building economic bridges. Since 2014, we have signed free trade agreements with nearly 40 countries. Our approach within bricks is also the same. Reduce barriers and expand opportunities for businesses. Therefore, during our chairship, we have established new cooperation networks in sectors such as agriculture, health, skills, and smart grids. In order to connect startups and thememes with markets and finance, we have lost initiatives like the bricks incubator network, the bricks MSME portal and the bricks startup innovation fund and everyone can benefit from these cooperation frameworks and we can also post the exchange of investment and talent between our nations. Friends, >> global trade can only progress if sea lanes are secure, >> supply routes remain open and seafarers remain safe. That is why India is a strong supporter of freedom of navigation and the safety of seafares. The bricks women's business alliance is also a vital part of our vision. We want women entrepreneurs to be at the forefront of our growth story. We are delighted that around 200 women business lead business leaders participated in the meeting of this alliance held in India. >> Friends, brick is now entering its third decade. I have a request for the BRICS business council. >> Could you prepare a report on removing the top 10 trade barriers between bricks nations? >> Could you support each year 100 brick startups to help them expand to other bricks markets. Could we foster a,000 new partnerships between our businesses? And indeed, we should review our progress on these three parameters every year. come. Let us transform Index ambition into action and turn our collective strength into global solutions. May the BRICS nations move forward and propel the world forward as well. Thank you very much. Thank you honorable prime minister sir. Excellencies, distinguished leaders, ladies and gentlemen, with that we've come to the conclusion of this leader session. Thank you all for joining us today. May I request all our distinguished guests to kindly remain seated until the esteemed members of the leadership on the days have exited the hall. On behalf of the organizers, ladies and gentlemen, may I express our deepest gratitude to all the distinguished leaders, ministers, business