New Delhi: The current low growth in the Indian economy has consequences and implications for all the members of the BRICS nations, which calls for consolidation in our partnerships to establish a new growth trajectory, South African Trade and Industries Minister Rob Davies has said.
Davies said this during a press conference here yesterday at the two-day BRICS Business Council meet that ends today.
"While emerging economies and BRICS countries continue to be the places where there is growth in the world economy, what we have seen is that the levels of growth are not what they were a couple of years ago," Davies said.
"That is a fact and it has all kinds of consequences. So if there is lower growth in India or China or Brazil, as there is (in India), it has consequences and implications for all of us.
"The implications for us are that we need to strengthen and consolidate our partnerships so that we can establish a new growth trajectory in all of our countries that is mutually beneficial", he said.
It also accelerates the need for us to build (a) new kind of symbiotic basis on which we can move further, Davies said as he described the current world economic crisis as the greatest since the 1930's.
The South African minister said the inaugural meeting of business leaders from the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries was one of great importance for the Council, which was established at the BRICS Summit held in Durban a few months ago.
"We as trade ministers have been meeting over the years and discussing ways in which we need to promote BRICS cooperation in the area of trade and investment.
"One of the very important conclusions that we have come to is that we are all industrialising economies in the BRICS group. We need to promote a pattern of interaction in the area of trade which supports value-added production to each of our economies, " he said.
Davies said the trade ministers had formed the Contact Group on Economic and Trade Issues (CGETI) which will meet in November in South Africa to discuss a study that has been initiated on how to promote trade in value-added products.
Davies was joined by the chairman of the Brics Business Council, South African mining magnate and philanthropist Patrice Motsepe, who was co-chairman of the India-South Africa CEO Forum until last year with Ratan Tata.
Motsepe said there would be no duplication with the work of that body and the Council.
"Ratan Tata and I had an informal agreement that when he steps down, so would I. He stepped down last year and I have done the same. But the CEO's Forum has done excellent work and I'm confident that they will continue to do outstanding work," Motsepe said.
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