Municipal Economic Cooperation in the BRICS Space. Prospects and Challenges

Today, at the V anniversary International Municipal BRICS+ Forum, which opened the day before in St. Petersburg, three business platforms co-organized by the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly will take place. They are dedicated to economic, intermunicipal and youth cooperation of municipal territories in Eurasian countries.

One of the most important platforms at the BRICS+ Forum will be the “Municipal Economic Cooperation in the BRICS Space. Prospects and Challenges" (16:00-17:30), organized by the Eurasian Peoples' Assembly jointly with the SCO National Center for Public Diplomacy in Russia.

The moderator is Stanislav Korolev, Deputy Secretary General of the Eurasian Peoples' Assembly (Russia), Director of the SCO National Center for Public Diplomacy in Russia.

During the discussion, experts will discuss intermunicipal cooperation as a tool for managing the socio-economic development of small and medium-sized cities.

Intermunicipal cooperation in the modern context is becoming one of the leading tools for managing the socio-economic development of small and medium-sized cities, making it possible to concentrate the resources of municipalities and combine economic, cultural and humanitarian potential.

As international experience shows, successful results through unification are achieved not only at the highest level, but also through direct communication between city leaders, representatives of business and culture of the regions.

Speakers at the venue:

● Mikhail Solomentsev, First Deputy of the Permanent Representation of the Republic of Crimea under the President of the Russian Federation;

● Olga Guseva, Minister of International and Interregional Relations of the Nizhny Novgorod Region (Russia)

● Lyudmila Berg, Deputy Minister of International and Foreign Economic Relations of the Sverdlovsk Region (Russia)

● Vladimir Levkin, General Director of the National Association of Rescue and Environmental Organizations (Russia)

● Igor Fomin, Head of the ANO “BRICS Development Organization in education, science, culture, healthcare, industry and public diplomacy BRICS INTERO” (Russia)

● Dilbar Sadykova, Chairman of the Academy of Youth Diplomacy of Tatarstan (Russia)

● Andrey Grachev, Partner, Head of Tax Practice of Birch Legal LLC, Candidate of Legal Sciences (Russia)

● Elena Churina, Director for Scientific and Educational Programs of the Foundation for Support of Education, Science and Culture “Universities of St. Petersburg” (Russia)

● Yuri Shumakov, Head of the Gazprombank branch in St. Petersburg (Russia)

● Alok Kumar, Honorary Director, BRICS Chamber of Commerce and Industry (India)

● Olga Shtemberg, Director and founder of the Life Foundation

Let us remind, the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly is also a co-organizer of two more platforms that are being held today as part of the V anniversary International Municipal BRICS+ Forum.

- Panel discussion dedicated to the cultural practices of rural communities of the BRICS+ countries. (10.11.2023, 10:00–11:30)

  Moderator - Svetlana Smirnova First Deputy Secretary General - Head of the General Secretariat of the Eurasian Peoples' Assembly

- Strategic session (12:00-13:30): “BRICS+: 2030” (Image of the future of BRICS+ through the eyes of youth)

Leader of the business platform - Daria Saprynskaya - Co-chairman of the Coordination Council of the Eurasian Youth Assembly, project manager of the Gorchakov Foundation, researcher at ISAA Lomonosov Moscow State University.

A month ago, on the sidelines of the conference “Development of regional cooperation within the BRICS+ countries”, the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly and the BRICS Plus Business Communications Support Foundation solemnly signed a Cooperation Agreement. The document defines the formats of cooperation between organizations to provide support and assistance in organizing the annual business Forum “International Municipal BRICS+ Forum”.