Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov: BRICS plays a role as an 'engine' of economic transformation

According to RIA Novosti on July 7, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke at the session of the 17th BRICS Summit on the topic "Strengthening the multilateral world order, financial and economic issues and artificial intelligence".

Foreign Minister Lavrov said that the share of BRICS countries in Russia's trade turnover is growing, by the end of last year it reached more than 48%.

The association itself today serves as an engine of economic transformation in the world.

“The United States accounts for more than 40% of the world's gross domestic product in terms of purchasing power parity, and together with partner countries this figure reaches 45%, or $93 trillion,” Foreign Minister Lavrov said.

According to Mr. Lavrov, the traditional model of globalization with the leading role of Western countries is becoming a thing of the past. The majority of the world is interested in creating development mechanisms independent of the West in the context of the events of recent years.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed many shortcomings of the global trade and financial system, accelerating its fragmentation. The erosion of the global economic order has been aggravated by illegal unilateral sanctions, the use of the dollar as a weapon of 'punishment'. Confidence in the US currency as a reliable means of payment has been undermined," said Foreign Minister Lavrov.

In addition, Russia believes that it is important to accelerate the coordination of common positions of the BRICS countries on the issue of the World Trade Organization.

According to Mr. Lavrov, world trade is seriously damaged by the long-term blockage of the WTO dispute settlement body along with the introduction of discriminatory measures against developing countries.

At the same time, artificial intelligence is becoming an important technology and its contribution to the global gross domestic product could reach $20 trillion by 2030. So the efforts of some countries to isolate sovereign states from global processes in the field of AI are dangerous and doomed to fail.