MOSCOW, May 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- President of Russia Vladimir Putin appointed the chairman of the State Corporation Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs (Vnesheconombank) as Russia's representative in BRICS Business Council.
BRICS is an informal group of states comprising the Federative Republic of Brazil, the Russian Federation, the Republic of India, the People's Republic of China and the Republic of South Africa. The BRICS Business Council is one of the most important mechanisms for BRICS cooperation aimed at promotion and strengthening business, trade, and investment ties amongst the business communities of the five BRICS countries. Seven working groups in the areas of Infrastructure, Manufacturing, Financial Services, Energy & Green Economy, Skills Development, Agribusiness and Deregulation have been formed under the aegis of the BRICS Business Council.
About Sergey Gorkov
Sergey Gorkov (48) became the head of state corporation "Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs (Vnesheconombank) in February 2016. Prior to that, he worked as deputy chairman of the board of Sberbank, where he supervised the work of the international operations unit. Mr Gorkov has been awarded the Medal of the Order of Merit for Services to the Fatherland, 2nd class and the Certificate of Honour of the Government of the Russian Federation.
About BRICS
The acronym "BRICs" was initially formulated in 2001 by economist Jim O'Neill, of Goldman Sachs, in a report on growth prospects for the economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China - which together represented a significant share of the world's production and population.
Russia was the side that initiated the creation of BRICS. In 2006, the four countries started a regular informal diplomatic coordination, with annual meetings of Foreign Ministers at the margins of the General Debate of the UN General Assembly (UNGA). This successful interaction led to the decision that the dialogue was to be carried out at the level of Heads of State and Government in annual Summits. As of the First Summit, held in Yekaterinburg in 2009, the depth and scope of the dialogue among the Members of BRICs - which became BRICS in 2011 with the inclusion of South Africa - was further enhanced. More than an acronym that identified countries emerging in the international economic order, BRICS became a new and promising political-diplomatic entity, far beyond the original concept tailored for the financial markets.
