At the initiative of Russia, the BRICS countries have launched the creation of the BRICS Grain Exchange and a digital investment platform for special economic zones. The new mechanisms are aimed at expanding mutual trade, developing sustainable logistics chains and creating an alternative infrastructure for settlements and investments between the countries of the association.
Nikita Kondratiev, director of the Department of Multilateral Economic Cooperation and Special Projects at the Russian Ministry of Economic Development, said that work on the grain exchange has already reached a practical level.
"We have already managed to form the model and structure of this exchange, we are working on payment issues, we are determining the currencies that will be used for settlements, we are defining risk hedging and clearing mechanisms. The key task for next year is to determine the technology platform that will perform the main digital functionality within the framework of this work, and to identify the exchanges of the BRICS countries that will already be connected to this technology platform," he said in an exclusive comment.
The grain exchange project is considered as a tool to increase the transparency of agricultural trade, reduce transaction costs and protect participants from price fluctuations. In the future, it may become a reference platform for settlements in national currencies and the formation of price targets independent of foreign markets.
At the same time, the Invest Navigator of the BRICS SEZ was launched, a digital platform focused on attracting investments and simplifying business access to preferential treatment.
"Its main goal is to help potential investors from the BRICS countries find preferential treatment in other partner countries, get detailed information on legislation, and get information on tax preferences. In addition, the resource has become a convenient platform for potential investors to register, apply and become residents of a particular special economic zone of the BRICS countries with just one click," Kondratiev explained.
The Ministry of Economic Development also outlined priorities for further development of cooperation. Evgenia Shivering, Deputy Director of the department, highlighted the creative economy as one of the promising areas.
"If we adapt the collection of export—oriented creative solutions to the BRICS countries, we are confident that it can cause significant excitement and interest among both the business community and other stakeholders," she stressed.
Additional vectors include support for small technology companies, the platform economy, and the development of the space sector.
"There are different estimates of how big the space economy market will be, but one of the most common is 1.8 trillion US dollars by 2035. This is the market that the BRICS countries will try to enter," Shivering added.
The economic base for such initiatives has already been formed: Russia's trade turnover with the BRICS countries reached $350 billion in 2024, with exports growing by 11% and imports by 4%. Experts note that the launch of the grain exchange and digital platforms is shifting BRICS cooperation from a coordination format to a format of joint economic institutions.
