BRICS has significantly expanded and will only grow in importance not only economically but also politically, and today it holds a significant share of the global market in terms of population, size of territory, economy and production, Sergey Katyrin, President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told Sputnik.
"The role of the association is growing daily. Yesterday, the association included five countries; today there are already ten. Thus, in 2000, the BRICS countries accounted for 8% of world GDP, and in 2022, this is already 26% of world production. Experts promise that by 2030, the BRICS share will be 30% of world production, and by 2050 – about 90%," he said.
The president noted that BRICS is not aimed against anyone, but its goal is to foster economic development and cooperation among the BRICS member countries.
He added that BRICS countries account for more than 41% of Russia's foreign trade, and Asia-Pacific countries now account for more than 70% of foreign trade turnover.
"Due to the fact that Western countries have seriously limited our ability to do business with other countries, we are naturally actively searching for new markets. Everything here is moving energetically to the East," the president noted.
The activity of Russian business in Arab countries is also steadily increasing, Katyrin added.
Because of the sanctions, Russia also began to look for new partners and to work more actively with those with whom it had long-standing relations, and to look for new partners in Africa, the Arab world, Latin America, and the Asia-Pacific region, the president pointed out.
"This is a question of how Russia will develop, how it will build its economy, how it will develop trade relations with other countries. This topic is discussed both at the state level and at the level of associations and entrepreneurs. We used all our tools, business advice and our representative offices abroad to look for new partners and develop existing projects," he concluded.
The president's remarks came on the sidelines of the 13th Annual Investment Congress in Abu Dhabi, being attended by some 12,000 people from more than 170 countries around the world.