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This statement was made by Mikhail Myasnikovich, Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission, at the session "EAEU — BRICS: Role in Shaping a New Multipolar World" at the 8th Eastern Economic Forum held on September 12. According to Mikhail Myasnikovich, mutual trade between the BRICS countries and the EAEU is growing. As of the end of H1 2023, the trade turnover amounted to 150 bln dollars. Exports of the EAEU countries to the BRICS countries increased by more than 15% compared to the corresponding period last year. 

"I am confident that these commodity flows will continue to grow, and we need modern and reliable settlement systems," the Head of the EEC Board emphasized. “I invite the Ministries of Finance and central banks of our countries to organize the study of these issues in relation to the EAEU and BRICS by the next summit of the association to be held in 2024 in Kazan."

According to Mikhail Myasnikovich, the Eurasian Economic Union's internal market is fully self-sufficient in basic commodities due to its own production.

“Now we work to improve qualitative indicators. This entails improving labor productivity, and reducing material and energy intensity. This means that we need to implement state-of-the-art technologies. The EAEU States have significant competencies, but we believe that the participation of companies from the BRICS countries can be mutually beneficial and will accelerate the processes of manufacturing new goods," the Head of the EEC Board expressed confidence. He also invited companies from China, India and other BRICS countries to work together in such areas as machine tool manufacturing, large-tonnage chemistry, pharmaceuticals and a number of others.

Mikhail Myasnikovich informed on the Commission's plans to involve the EAEU manufacturers in developing the Russian industrial area in Egypt as a pilot project. 

"In principle, this is in line with the arrangements reached at the Russia-Africa Summit in July in St. Petersburg," he noted. "The Agreement on Free Trade Area within the EAEU with Egypt, which has a fairly high degree of preparation, will unlock the potential of cooperation with this country and other African States."

Along with that, he noted that the EAEU had more than two thousand industrial sites, about 500 industrial parks, 70 special free economic areas, and over 100 territories of priority development. The Association of Industrial Parks of Russia operates a digital service called "Industrial Site Selection", and the Commission works to expand it to the EAEU countries. Digitalization opens up opportunities for connecting third-country partners using international digital ecosystems.

"Given our long distances, it is very difficult to facilitate the logistics of goods movement across state borders without mutual introduction of digital transport platforms, and digitalization of documents for customs clearance. These issues are being resolved within the EAEU. It’s more difficult with third countries,” Mikhail Myasnikovich said.

The Chairman of the EEC Board invited the session attendees to come up with ideas on specific investment projects in the real economy. Besides, he reminded that Alexander Lukashenko, President of the Republic of Belarus, proposed holding a summit of the EAEU, BRICS, and SCO countries, which could give a start to real cooperation projects. This proposal could be included in the documents following the Eastern Economic Forum.