PM Narendra Modi bats for boosting intra-BRICS trade to $500 bn

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday pushed for boosting intra-BRICS trade and investment and urged that a roadmap be readied for increasing the trade to $500 billion by the next summit.

Addressing the Leaders` Dialogue with BRICS Business Council, Modi said the partnership agreement inked between New Development Bank and BRICS Business Council will be beneficial to both sides.

He also urged that the BRICS nations - comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - and the NDB join the Coalition for Disaster Resistant Infrastructure.

"Till the next summit a roadmap for achieving $500 billion intra-BRICS trade target should be drawn up by the BRICS Business Council," the PM said. He said that intra-BRCS trade stands at just 15 percent of global trade, in comparison to their combined population which was over 40 percent of that of the world.

He appealed that the process for setting up a regional office in India of the NDB be completed at the earliest, which would help implement the projects in priority areas.

Modi said that strengthening the BRICS business links could be achieved with the full cooperation of the NDB and the BRICS Business Council.

He also called for enhanced focus on agriculture, health, SMEs, credit and rating agencies.

The PM later tweeted: "At the interaction with BRICS Business Council and NDB I made the following suggestions:

Charting a roadmap for Intra-BRICS trade to the tune of $500 billion.

Harnessing the agro-tech start-up network for people`s betterment.

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"I also suggested:

A working group to share best practices from our respective small and medium enterprises.

Strengthening the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure so that we can have even more effective systems in place to help our people."