BRICS Agriculture Research Platform

BRICS brings together five major emerging economies- China, Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa. It comprises 43% of the world population, having 30% of the world GDP and a 17% share in world trade.
The grouping was formalised during the first meeting of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) Foreign Ministers on the margins of the UNGA in New York in September 2006.
South Africa was added to the grouping in 2011 creating “BRICS”.
BRICS cooperation is aimed at complementing and strengthening existing bilateral and multilateral relations among member countries.
The Chairship of the forum is rotated annually among the members, in accordance with the acronym B-R-I-C-S.
Cooperation among members is predicated on three levels or “tracks” of interaction, namely:
- Track I: Formal diplomatic engagement between the national governments
- Track II: Engagement through government-affiliated institutions, e.g. state-owned enterprises and business councils
- Track III: Civil society and “people-to-people” engagement.

The NDB created by the BRICS countries formally came into existence at the Ufa Summit (Russia) in 2015.
It was established with the objective of financing infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS and other emerging economies and developing countries, complementing the efforts of multilateral and regional financial institutions toward global growth and development.
In 2018, the NDB received observer status in the UN General Assembly.
Voting power of each member is equal to the number of its subscribed shares in capital stock.
All members of the United Nations could be members of the bank, however the share of the BRICS nations can never be less than 55% of voting power.

The BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) is a framework for the provision of support through liquidity and precautionary instruments in response to actual or potential short-term balance of payments pressures.

BRICS Agriculture Research Platform has been developed by India to promote cooperation in the areas of agricultural research, extension, technology transfer, training and capacity building.
The intention to make the BRICS Agriculture Research Platform functional and encourage research cooperation to improve the use and application of agricultural technologies for meeting the needs of producers and processors.

Top agriculture officials from the BRICS grouping held a virtual meet recently and pitched for closer ties in strengthening agro-biodiversity to ensure food and nutrition security.

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