BRICS Trade Ministers meet agrees to close global trade finance gap of $2.5 trillion for MSMEs

The 16th BRICS Trade Ministers’ Meeting 2026 concluded in Rajasthan’s Jaipur under India’s BRICS Chairship with decisive push for small businesses and the Multilateral Trading System under the WTO rules. The Chair’s Statement and Outcome Document was issued comprising four Annexes.The Annex-I affirmed the multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization at its core, with development at its centre, the preservation of Special and Differential Treatment, and the restoration of a fully functioning, two-tier and binding dispute settlement system, alongside the policy space for developing economies for their food and livelihood security.Ministers issued the Jaipur Consensus to study a BRICS Invoice Discounting Mechanism and adopted the Guiding Principles for Credit Assessment Frameworks for Export-Oriented MSMEs, so that a firm is judged by its cash flow and not by its assets and collateral. The Commerce Ministry said that these instruments respond directly to the global trade finance gap of about $2.5 trillion which impacts smaller enterprises, and form part of the Workplan on the Internationalisation of MSMEs adopted as Annex-II.Ministers advanced the opening of markets and economic diversification among BRICS Members. The Workplan on the BRICS Shared Understanding on Global Value Chains, covered by Annex-III, carried the GVC Action Plan 2026-2030, including BRICS Technical Council, BRICS Connect, BRICS GVC Joint Study, the possibility of establishing strategic supply chain and investment promotion platform including in pharmaceutical sector as well as food security, among others.The BRICS Principles to Facilitate Digitally Delivered Services Across Borders was adopted as the Annex-IV to help cooperation in safe and secure digitally delivered services to place services and value chains at the frontier of the next decade of BRICS cooperation. Another outcome was the progress towards finalisation of the Strategy for BRICS Economic Partnership 2030, spanning the Multilateral Trading System, trade in services, the digital economy, industry, innovation and technology, trade and investment, financial cooperation and sustainable development. Ministers agreed to submit the Strategy, together with the priorities to the BRICS Leaders for endorsement.The Meeting held under the theme “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability” was chaired by India’s Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, and was preceded by the Third Meeting of the BRICS Contact Group on Economic and Trade Issues (CGETI), held on 3 and 4 August 2026 in New Delhi.The Meeting brought together Trade Ministers, Vice Ministers, Heads of Delegation and officials from the BRICS member countries. The visiting dignitaries included Brazil’s Minister of State for Development, Industry, Commerce and Services Marcio Fernando Elias Rosa; China’s International Trade Representative and Vice Minister of Commerce Li Chenggang; Egypt’s Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade Dr. Mohamed Farid Saleh; Ethiopia’s Ambassador Molalign Asfaw Ayana, Indonesia’s Minister of Trade Dr. Budi Santoso; Iran’s First Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry Dr. Mohammad Sadegh Mofatteh; Russia’s Deputy Minister of Economic Development Vladimir Evgenievich Ilichev; South Africa’s Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Parks Franklyn Mpho Tau; and UAE’s Minister of Foreign Trade Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi.

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