BRICS to digitalize infrastructure to enhance trade

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The leaders of the BRICS countries are expected to adopt a series of initiatives that will digitalize the emerging market bloc’s trade infrastructure and overcome the geographical setbacks impeding commercial connectivity for the five member states, said a deputy minister from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MoC) during a press conference on Sunday.

Documents including a BRICS E-Commerce Initiative and a proposal to establish a Model E-Port Network are all likely to be adopted in a bid to enhance trade digitalization, said Wang Shouwen, the MoC's deputy minister in Xiamen, ahead of the annual gathering for the BRICS leaders in the eastern Chinese city.

With the E-Commerce Initiative, the five countries will be able to “identify the problems” that have arrested development and cooperation in digital economy, in areas such as payment and consumer protection, the deputy minister said.

Data from the MoC show that around 46 percent of the bloc's population of 3.14 billion have access to the Internet, and more than 700 million shop online.

The Model E-Port Network is to promote the sharing of sea transportation data among major ports of the BRICS countries, enhancing logistical efficiency, Wang added.

The growth in trade between some BRICS countries has been “thwarted by the geographical separation,” emphasized the deputy minister.

Aggregated bilateral trade between BRICS member states has only accounted for six percent of the five countries' total trade volume, official data reveals.

The bloc is also looking at the approval of other major cooperation papers to facilitate trade between each member state, including one that will call for opposition to protectionism, in order to achieve an ever more unified market.

“The member states have set upon a path towards an ‘integrated BRICS market’,” Wang added.

Since 2009, BRICS summits have been held annually. The foreign, finance and security ministers of the member nations also meet regularly. In previous years, the five BRICS members have doubled their combined contribution to global GDP to 23 percent.