At an Oct. 18 Moscow press conference with journalists from BRICS countries, prior to the BRICS Summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin had commented that he “would like to propose some really serious things to our colleagues—I will not go into details at this point.”
Putin’s remarks during the Oct. 23 Expanded Format session, and then again during the Oct. 24 BRICS Plus/Outreach gathering, included a number of such “serious proposals": the establishment of a new BRICS “investment platform” to foster physical economic growth; and the creation of a BRICS Grain Exchange to take control of critical food supplies out of the hands of international speculators.
On Oct. 23, Putin said: “To fully realize the potential of our growing economies and take advantage of the new wave of global economic growth, our countries need to strengthen cooperation in areas such as technology, education, efficient resource development, trade and logistics, finance and insurance. Additionally, we must significantly increase the scale of investments. In this connection, we suggest establishing a new BRICS investment platform that would become a powerful tool for supporting our national economies and provide countries of the Global South and East with financial resources.”
He then proposed that a BRICS Grain Exchange be established. “Several BRICS countries are among the world’s largest producers of grains, leguminous crops, and oilseeds. In this regard, we proposed establishing a BRICS Grain Exchange, which would help discover fair and predictable prices for products and raw materials, since the latter have a special role to play in ensuring food security. Once implemented, this initiative would help protect national markets from adverse external interference, speculation, and attempts to create artificial food shortages.”
