BRICS Business Council and the BRICS Women's Business Alliance hold a press conference in Russia

The event was attended by Sergey Ryabkov, Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia and Russia's BRICS Sherpa, Sergey Katyrin, President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Chairman of the Russian part of the BRICS Business Council, Anna Nesterova, Chairperson of the Russian part of the BRICS Women's Business Alliance, and other dignitaries.

At the opening of the press conference, Sergey Ryabkov said: "One of the main tasks for this year is to harmoniously integrate the newcomers into the whole mechanics of the BRICS strategic partnership. These are Egypt, Iran, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia."

He also emphasised the importance of business interaction in the development of BRICS.

Ryabkov noted the merits of the BRICS Women's Business Alliance and the BRICS Business Council and assured them of support from the Russian Foreign Ministry.

During the Russian Chairmanship, Women's Business Alliance plans to launch a flagship project – the Common Digital Platform, which will unite women from ten BRICS countries and become a single information resource for women entrepreneurs in the BRICS region.

Twenty events are planned for 2024, including the BRICS Women's Entrepreneurship Forum and the Best Women's Startups Competition. The forum, which will be held on 2 – 4 June 2024 in Moscow, will discuss current issues of economic development and new opportunities in the BRICS countries.

There are also plans to organise a business mission to Brazil and participate in the Women's Leadership Forum in China. The working group meetings and the annual closed meeting of the alliance will be held in Moscow in October this year.