India to host BRICS trade ministers meeting today

India will on Thursday host a meeting of the BRICS trade ministers here in New Delhi, during which the leaders will adopt a framework to enhance economic co-operation among the member nations.

The meeting will be hosted by Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and will be attended by her counterparts from Brazil, China, Russia and South Africa.

Over one thousand business delegates from the BRICS countries are likely to participate in the BRICS Business Forum.

During the day-long deliberation, the ministers will adopt the framework for co-operation dealing in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), services, intellectual property rights, trade promotion, non-tariff measures resolution and standardisation.

Intra-BRICS trade grew to 297 billion US Dollar in 2014, from 281 billion US Dollar in 2012. For the first time, India has organised a three day BRICS Trade fair, which started on Wednesday, to push trade among the BRICS nations.

The fair is providing a platform for respective BRICS countries to exhibit state-of-the-art technologies and advances made in industrial development. Business leaders from BIMSTEC countries Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal will on Thursday attend meetings and discussions with the BRICS business leaders and the companies at the fair.