BRICS and the 4th Industrial Revolution

Ekaterina Nenakhova (Sputnik Brazil) - This Wednesday (25), in the South African city of Johannesburg, the 10th BRICS summit begins, which focuses on the fourth industrial revolution and the development of modern technologies. Sputnik is covering the event on site and managed to speak with Arkady Dvorkovich, a high-ranking Russian official, about the main agenda of the meeting.

The South African government, which chairs the organization under the protocol from January 1, 2018, to December 31, 2018, defined the summit's main theme as "Collaboration for Inclusive Growth and Common Prosperity amidst the Fourth Industrial Revolution."

To encourage dialogue, South African authorities invited hundreds of experts from around the world, not just from member countries of the bloc. The event also includes the participation of nine other African countries, including Angola, and the states invited under the BRICS+ project proposed by China last year. These include Argentina, Indonesia, Egypt, Jamaica, and Turkey.

In a conversation with Sputnik on the sidelines of the forum, the former Russian deputy prime minister, economist, and civil servant, Arkady Dvorkovich, outlined the main topics of discussion at this summit.

"Today's agenda contains very basic issues that, nevertheless, remain relevant. I mean, among other things, the introduction of new technologies, related to the fourth industrial revolution, in the economies of our countries, both in the BRICS countries and in the African countries that are BRICS partners in this summit. Furthermore, it deals with topics such as trade and investment—[so that there are] fewer barriers, fairer decisions, and, respectively, greater implications for the economic development of our nations," he explained.

The Russian politician emphasized that he is referring specifically to "new financial mechanisms" that will maintain the collective development of the bloc and investments in so-called "human capital."

"All of this is being actively discussed, I'll repeat myself, this has been crucial for many years, but each time we move to a new level. Something that was discussed before has already been done, other things are beginning to be done," Dvorkovich emphasized.

The high-ranking Russian official, who is a member of the Management Board of the Skolkovo innovation center, considers the topics being discussed at the current forum to be very important.

"I'm here representing the Skolkovo Innovation Center, and of course, for me, the topic of innovations and new technologies, linked to the use of big data, to everything related to new materials, neurotechnologies… is important. I think that in the very near future all of this will become the main focus of the agenda. The most important thing is to guarantee access to these technologies for a significant number of people," he concluded.