Brazilian Minister of Industry, Foreign Trade and Services Marcos Pereira has signed a set of instruments seeking to better integrate trade and development within the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) during the 6th Meeting of Trade Ministers of the block, held in New Delhi (India).

The instruments cover issues such as reducing bureaucracy and facilitating trade, services trade development, cooperation between micro and small enterprises, export promotion and better coordination of trade policies within the five countries. Together, the BRICS represent a GDP of over US$ 16 trillion.

"Despite the size of our economies, we still have challenges typical of developing countries, such as the search for continued and sustainable growth, the fight against unemployment, eradicating poverty and hunger, cutting red tape, fostering quality education and innovation and stimulating trade," said Pereira.trade facilitation, Marcos Pereira highlighted the Single Foreign Trade Portal as an initiative by the Brazilian government to reduce bureaucracy in import, export and customs transit processes.

Full implementation of the Portal is expected to complete in Brazil by the end of 2017, and is an essential part of the commitments made in the Trade Facilitation Agreement signed under the World Trade Organization (WTO). The tool is expected to reduce average export and import deadlines by 40%, with positive impacts on the competitiveness of goods and the country's GDP.

The minister also talked about how micro, small and medium enterprises can drive job creation, income and exports. According to Pereira, it is essential to promote entrepreneurship and the integration of companies to regional and global value chains.

He also said that in Brazil, the Special Secretariat for Small and Medium Enterprises has been established directly under the Presidency precisely because of the priority given by the country to policies aimed at this segment.

Brazil is recovering

Minister Pereira also used the meeting to reinforce the commitment by President Michel Temer's administration to put the country back on the path to growth.

He highlighted some of the macroeconomic rebalancing measures taken so far, such as the approval in its first round of voting of PEC 241 (the public spending cap bill), aimed at ushering in a new development cycle in Brazil whose main dynamic vectors are foreign trade and investments.