President of Russia Vladimir Putin addressed a meeting of the BRICS Business Forum.
* * *
President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Friends, Prime Minister Modi, colleagues – heads of state, our friends in the audience, and members of our countries’ business community.
As per tradition, this event takes place before the BRICS Summit. Its high-profile attendance underscores growing interest in strengthening contacts throughout the territory of our association.
It is clear that strong economic partnerships and reliable business ties largely shape the basis of international relations, reinforcing their stability and helping us overcome the crisis elements the modern world is facing. The world has entered a period of deep structural shifts caused by the fact that the old leaders – relatively speaking old – who were at the forefront of economic growth in the latter half of the past century, are being replaced with new growth drivers.
Of course, when I say “old,” it is just a figure of speech, but all of us understand what we are talking about. These so-called old leaders still have big and powerful advantages, a developed infrastructure, technological advantages, scientific schools, and so on.
Nevertheless, change invariably happens in the world, in human society and in the economy. The world is changing. This is borne out by objective statistics. Over the past five years, as it has already been said today – I think it was our Indonesian colleague who said it, the BRICS countries accounted for over 40 percent of global GDP, while the contribution of the Group of Seven, the so-called leading economies, although I don’t understand why they are called “leading,” was just 29 percent.
As for global economic growth over the same period, our association accounted for nearly half of it, while the G7 contributed just 18 percent.
What drives these trends? The answer is quite simple: the BRICS countries, which are home to roughly half the world's population, have vast and dynamic domestic markets. Our cities are growing and developing rapidly, urbanisation is advancing quickly, and our national companies are increasingly making their mark as global players.
To illustrate, Tech Mahindra of India delivers effective platform-based digital solutions, including those utilising artificial intelligence. Huawei of China is a world-class leader in technology; Embraer of Brazil maintains a strong position within the aerospace sector; DP World, headquartered in the United Arab Emirates, operates efficiently in the field of logistics; and the Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation of Russia is rightfully recognised as the global leader in peaceful nuclear energy.
There are numerous such corporate success stories across our countries. Behind each one lies diligent, daily effort amid intense competition. I would like to address this issue separately – to speak directly about competition. We have long been told that competition is an inviolable principle; yet, regrettably, Western competitors today are resorting to every conceivable means to reclaim their erstwhile dominance. Such competition, as my colleague from Iran has just observed, is now assuming, at times, most unseemly forms – unseemly even at the state level.
They go so far as to employ instruments of direct physical force, including the destruction of industrial and logistical infrastructure, pipelines, and similar facilities. Efforts are underway to block international transport corridors, to seize sea‑going vessels, while illegal restrictions are imposed, accompanied by threats of so‑called secondary sanctions, on those who refuse to act in the interests of others and instead seek to defend their own national interests.
I know my colleagues could cite hundreds of such examples of this, but consider this: over 30,000 sanctions have been imposed on Russia – nearly twice as many as against all other countries in the world combined. That is the reality the statistics bear out.
Amid exceptionally challenging conditions, Russia has acted with confidence in its own strength, drawing on the capabilities of domestic business, science, technology, education, our engineering schools and above all – our people, the citizens of Russia. In doing so, we have achieved positive results. We have strengthened our national sovereignty and are forging ties with reliable, predictable partners. In just four years, the geography of our foreign trade has undergone a radical shift.
Structural changes have been set in motion within the Russian economy, making it stronger, more resilient and more agile. Consequently, over the past three years, Russia’s economic growth rates have outpaced the global average; between 2023 and 2025, GDP grew by 10.3 percent, while unemployment fell to a record low – the lowest level ever recorded in our history – of 2.3 percent.
We have greenlighted large-scale technological innovation, including the roll-out of artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, digital platforms and modern financial instruments. Crucially, these innovations rest primarily on our own Russian solutions, as well as developments from our BRICS partners. All of this proves once again that, even under severe external constraints, ambitious goals can be set and achieved.
We must also acknowledge another fact: the countries that initiated this sanctions pressure, and which are now grappling with serious problems such as budget deficits, mounting public debt and industrial decline, have been unable to do the same. It turns out that they are the ones facing complex and severe consequences. This is are not mere speculation; these are facts drawn from their own statistics.
I mentioned budget deficits, rising public debt and industrial decline – these are all undeniable realities. In the eurozone, specifically in its leading economies, and I shall not give names, industrial output has fallen by 8 percent over the past few years; for them, that is a significant decline.
Our shared goal is to unlock the BRICS potential for the benefit of our countries and peoples, and to strengthen mechanisms for practical business cooperation – what is known as “business diplomacy” – so that companies, entrepreneurs can more easily find partners, settle payments, transport goods and invest within our nations.
At the same time, we have no desire to limit ourselves or turn inward – whether at national, corporate or broader partnership level. We are not building our work in opposition to anyone; we stand for ourselves and our own interests, yet we are ready to cooperate with all our partners – be they “old” leaders or otherwise – and indeed with the entire world; we are open to working with the global community.
I am confident that our Business Forum will become the mechanism that will give additional momentum to the development of our trade and economic ties, help implement numerous ideas and projects, including in infrastructure, logistics, finance, technological cooperation and other fields.
A National Committee for Business Cooperation within BRICS has been established in Russia to stimulate this work. It comprises over 40 representatives of the leading Russian companies. Its task is to configure a substantive programme of interaction with our foreign partners.
As I said, Russia is open to interesting and promising initiatives in industry, trade and tourism. We are ready to contribute to the world’s energy and food security together with our partners, and to jointly shape reliable global routes, such as the Trans-Arctic Transport Corridor and the North-South International Corridor. Of course, we also intend to deepen our cooperation in training personnel and implementing applied research projects across many spheres, in particular, in smart technologies and driverless transport.
I would like to add that the development of business ties implies the use of effective financial mechanisms. The New Development Bank is working on this. Russia has proposed using it as the basis for creating a new investment platform, which will help us attract additional private funds to infrastructure, technology and other fields that underlie the competitiveness of our states. We hope that this initiative will be supported by members of our association.
Friends,
Through the combined efforts of the bodies of power, businesses and expert community, BRICS is creating a new stable platform of global growth. It is notable that its key elements, the operating rules for companies and organisations are not imposed from the outside by the so-called golden billion. Likewise, we do not impose anything on others.
Our rules are based on innovative business approaches, breakthrough technological solutions, highlighting the national interests of our states and nations. It is true that this is hard and painstaking work, but the BRICS countries have shown that they can work hard and honestly, cooperate on an e qual basis, see the big picture and mutually beneficial prospects, and find answers to any challenges, which means that our initiatives will succeed.
I wish you all the best. Thank you.