Joint Declaration by the Ministry of Economy, Federal Republic of Brazil; Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation; Ministry of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of India; Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People’s Republic of China; Ministry of Trade, Industry and Competition of the Republic of South Africa,” 

The Ministry of Economy of the Federative Republic of Brazil, through the Special Secretariat for Productivity, Labor and Competitiveness, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, Ministry of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of India, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People’s Republic of China and Ministry of Trade, Industry and Competition of the Republic of South Africa, herein after referred as Participants of the 2021 BRICS Industry Ministers Meeting met for a virtual meeting on August 18th, 2021.

RECOGNIZING the unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 pandemic particularly in the fields of trade and industry.

STRESSING the need for mutual cooperation amongst BRICS members to combat the pandemic and its impacts through deepened cooperation and mobilization of resources that would help to maintain macroeconomic stability, promote innovation, leading to a strong, sustainable and inclusive global economic recovery and growth and secure the stability and safety of global industrial and supply chains.

RECALLING the decisions of their previous meetings to deepen the industrial cooperation further.

TAKING into account the role of the BRICS Partnership on New Industrial Revolution (PartNIR) Advisory group in deepening BRICS cooperation in digitalization, industrialization, innovation, inclusiveness, and investment and work together to accelerate the shift from old economic driving forces to new ones and promote economic transformation and supporting the development path of BRICS as set out by the Strategy for BRICS Economic Partnership 2025.

UNDERSTANDING that BRICS cooperation plays an important role in solving emerging problems, reducing risks, creating new opportunities, and assisting economic entities to strengthen their role as economic agents;

REAFFIRMING the ongoing BRICS cooperation being consistent with national security, policy priorities and legislations of member countries for strengthening and reforming the multilateral system of economic and financial cooperation to promote industrial growth, trade, services and investment for sustainable development.

NOW THEREFORE the Participants of the Meeting declare:

Their commitment to further cooperate and promote the trade and industrial development among BRICS members to achieve the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and supporting the development path of BRICS as set out by the Strategy for BRICS Economic Partnership 2025.
Their understanding that the New Industrial Revolution (NIR) has become a key factor for sustainable economic, industrial, and social development. They recognized the role of the NIR technologies as an important tool for modernization and transformation of the industry, promotion of inclusive economic growth, support of seamless global trade and business conduct, and helping BRICS national economies to meet the Sustainable Development Goals. Further, they acknowledged the challenges arising from the unprecedented growth of NIR technologies and stressed the need for the industry to manage transition to NIR and to support an equipped work environment in line with national circumstances.
They agreed on the need to build human resources in line with the changing requirements accelerated by the NIR and to promote training and skills development of the related workforce and businesses. The BRICS members underscored the importance of strengthening intra-BRICS cooperation on advanced technical skills for reskilling and upskilling by exchanging experience and good practices through match making workshops, seminars, and exchange programs to develop a practical framework for ensuring appropriate required skills and knowledge for Industrial development.
They recognized the importance of voluntary harmonization of standards for industrial cooperation and are willing to continue the co-operation in non – binding BRICS Working Mechanism on Technical Regulations, Standards, Metrology and Conformity Assessment and Accreditation procedures.
They welcomed the discussions about BRICS PartNIR initiatives, they reaffirmed the cooperation towards the establishment of the Center for Industrial Competences, they welcomed China’s initiative of a BRICS PartNIR Innovation Centre in China and are ready to discuss BRICS PartNIR Startups events from India. Further discussions on all PartNIR initiatives will be convened by the PartNIR Advisory Group in collaboration with respective stakeholders in relevant BRICS tracks.
Their commitment to make efforts to foster open, fair, and non-discriminatory trade environment, ensure greater participation in global value chains, promote digital inclusion, assess the implications, and encourage the progressive, safe, equitable, and sustainable use of disruptive technologies for advancing inclusive growth.
7. They reiterated their intention to encourage capacity building in cutting-edge technologies and continue building the Innovation ecosystem as tasked in the Work Plan of PartNIR. Their commitment to deepen the cooperation on the field of industrial innovation through organization of innovators prize competition, exhibitions, festival of innovation and entrepreneurship, annual forums, mapping best practices, etc.

They expressed their intention to collaborate with the New Development Bank (NDB) and to leverage the NDB’s resources to support the project cooperation within the framework of PartNIR, and to enhance the private sector operations and partnerships, benefitting from the co-financing opportunities with other major Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) in member countries and prioritizing the use of NIR in industrial sector.
They expressed their aspiration to stimulate strong economic growth, confront macroeconomic shocks and financial volatility and to work on various elements as agreed in the Strategy for BRICS Economic Partnership 2025 so as to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

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