BRICS
At the end of the year, it is customary to sum up the results. One of them is two landmark meetings between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin. One of them was held in Beijing in May. And in late October, Xi Jinping arrived in Russia for the XVI BRICS Summit of heads of state. It was attended by delegations of 36 States and six international organizations, 24 delegations were at the level of heads of state. Attended by:
Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi.
Chinese President Xi Jinping.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia Alexander Vulin.
President of the United Arab Emirates, Muhammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Prime Minister of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed.
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brazil Mauro Vieiro .
Turkish President Recep Erdogan .
President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro.
SCO Secretary General Zhang Min.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Milorad Dodik, leader of the Republika Srpska region of Bosnia.
Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Deputy Head of the Political Bureau of the Hamas movement Musa Abu Marzuk.
President of the New BRICS Development Bank Dilma Rousseff.
President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin: "In Kazan, we confirmed that BRICS is not a closed format, it is open to all who share the BRICS values, and its members are ready to work on finding joint solutions without external dictates or attempts to impose only some narrow approaches on anyone. The BRICS cannot but respond to the growing demand in the world for such cooperation. Accordingly, we paid special attention to the possible expansion of BRICS through the establishment of a new category – partner states."
At the Kazan airport, the heads of state were met by the President of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov. One of the distinguished guests who arrived in the capital of Tatarstan was Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Later, as part of the Russian delegation, Rustam Minnikhanov took part in a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
According to the results of last year, the trade turnover between Tatarstan and China increased almost 2 times and exceeded $3 billion. 8 agreements were signed with Chinese provinces. Tatarstan participates in the work of the Volga-Yangtze Cooperation Council. The Consulate General of China operates in Kazan, and the trade and economic representation of Tatarstan operates in Beijing.
Tatarstan's leading enterprises cooperate with China. The Alabuga Free Economic Zone is creating a transport hub for rail links with China. Since September of this year, the Chinese carrier has opened direct flights between Kazan and Shanghai. More than 2 thousand Chinese students study in Kazan.
Participants of the BRICS summit could get acquainted with the industrial and investment potential of Tatarstan at the exhibition of enterprises. For example, KAMAZ presented its new products, including the K5 generation mainline tractor, as well as dump trucks and buses. A sports car will also be shown, which is used by the KAMAZ-Master team. Also among the exhibits are medical and police helicopters "Ansat" of the Kazan Helicopter Plant.
The company "Aurus" presented cars Arsenal, Komendant and Senat Long. RariTEK Automobile Plant is an eco-friendly 12-meter NEON bus under the LOTOS brand that runs on natural gas. The exhibition features a lot of agricultural machinery. In the medical part of the exhibition, there are such developments as, for example, the E-Helper exoskeleton for rehabilitation and the "smart ward", where patients can control various devices using their eyes.
But the main historical event that happened at the summit for Tatarstan was the BRICS Kazan Declaration, which summed up the discussions that took place at the summit. Vladimir Putin: "In our opinion, this is a comprehensive concept document with a positive agenda for the future. It is important that it confirms the commitment of all our states to building a more democratic, inclusive and multipolar world order based on international law and the UN Charter, and sets out a common determination to counteract the practice of applying illegitimate sanctions and attempts to undermine traditional moral values."
The main points of the Kazan Declaration are indicated by theses.
- The BRICS countries will continue to develop inter-parliamentary cooperation, and the leaders also recognized the importance of dialogue between the BRICS political parties.
The BRICS countries agreed to step up financial cooperation against the backdrop of geopolitical risks.
The BRICS countries will continue to develop joint multilateral projects in the field of tourism and strengthen humanitarian ties.
BRICS will promote trade in agricultural products, and it should be protected from illegal restrictive measures.
States agreed to transform the New Development Bank into a multilateral development bank for emerging market countries.
The New Development Bank is an international financial organization, a development bank established by the BRICS member countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa). The Bank's goal is to finance infrastructure projects in the BRICS countries. The company is headquartered in Shanghai.
President of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov met with President of the New Development Bank Dilma Rousseff.
Dilma Rousseff noted the importance of holding such summits in the regions, emphasizing her admiration for Kazan and Tatarstan. "It's great that not only I, but all of us here will now get to know Kazan. I represent the BRICS bank, we are engaged in investments, and we need to know not only the countries, we need to understand what regions they consist of, " she said.
Dilma Rousseff got acquainted with the economic and investment potential of Tatarstan, which took part in the Forum this time BRICS Summit, at the Investment Development Agency of the Republic of Tatarstan. For the last ten years, it has been successfully headed by Taliya Minullina, who is also a member of the Government of the Republic of Tatarstan and the youngest Minister of Tatarstan. In 2023, investments in fixed assets of Tatarstan exceeded the mark of one trillion rubles for the first time. The Investment Development Agency of the Republic of Tatarstan is an active and full member not only of the Russian Association of Investment Agencies, but also of the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA), established in 1995 in Geneva to establish contacts and develop cooperation, exchange experience and essential information in the field of attracting foreign direct investment between investment organizations. agencies. The World Association unites 168 investment agencies from 122 countries. And the only member from Russia is the Agency of Tatarstan.
Talia Minullina delivered a report "Achievements of the Republic of Tatarstan in the field of sustainable development" to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Rebekah Greenspan, Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, also paid a study visit to the Investment Development Agency.
Xiang Bo, Consul General of China in Kazan, notes the importance of cooperation between Tatarstan and China: "I believe that the Republic of Tatarstan is one of the most active regions of Russia in developing cooperation with China and contributes to the strategic growth of cooperation between Russia and China, helping it reach a new qualitative level."
On November 13-15, 2024, the International Russian-Chinese Forum "SPROUTS"was held in Kazan with great success for the second time. The number of participants significantly exceeded the indicators of the first forum.
2023 – more than 7 thousand, including more than 300 speakers;
2024 – more than 10 thousand, including more than 200 speakers.
2023 – 25 countries, 57 subjects of the Russian Federation, 14 administrative divisions of the PRC;
2024 – 36 countries, 71 subjects of the Russian Federation, 27 administrative divisions of the PRC.
In 2024, high-level official government delegations from China were represented by 6 provinces: Jilin, XUAR, Chongqing, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Hunan. 67 large corporations of the People's Republic of China were registered. A total of 31 agreements were signed.
Taliya Minullina noted: "This platform is useful not only for us, but also for other regions of Russia. Many agreements have been signed in the fields of agriculture, economy, trade, mineral resources, engineering and technical cooperation and in many other areas. Each participant also tried to organize additional events outside the main program of the forum. Thus, this forum has become a successful platform that opens up new horizons for further cooperation."
"Many people ask why we moved the forum to new dates. This is due to our Chinese partners. During the meetings with the Rais of the Republic, our guests asked him several times to postpone the forum to August, because the autumn months are too busy in terms of business activity. We also take into account other events that take place in China, including major exhibitions. So they asked for a forum to be held in August. The dates of August 18 and 19 were not chosen by chance, as the Chinese are very fond of the number 8, and August is the eighth month. Thus, we decided to focus on these dates in 2025, " added the head of the Investment Development Agency of the Republic of Tatarstan.