Putin supports call to relax visa requirements among #BRICS countries

Source: IOL, 11/08/2018

Russian President Vladimir Putin supported the call for the relaxation
of strict visa travel requirements.
Johannesburg - Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the Brics
Business Council a major boost when he supported their call for the
relaxation of strict visa travel requirements between the member
countries.
The Brics Business Council through its chairperson Dr Iqbal Survé made
the call this week in which he urged all heads of state including
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa to open door for businesses
in these different countries to travel and do business in their bids
to enhance trade and investment among the Brics countries.
Business Council also made calls for easy access for short-term
tourism and other non-business purposes as well as study and work permits.
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Putin was quick to endorse the call in which he urged the Brics
national ministers responsible for the different portfolios’ in their
governments to seriously consider the proposals. The Russian President
also gave weight to the regional establishment of the New Development
Banks in all the Brics countries and said his own country had already
created favourable environment for the bank to operate without any hinges.
All heads of the states were in agreement about the challenges of the
4th industrial revolution and for all member states to share ideas on
how to deal with the “unknown challenges”.
Ramaphosa said the surge innovation has the potential to dramatically
improve productivity and to place the entire countries on a new
trajectory of prosperity.
He also said that the industrial revolution had the potential to solve
many of the social problems the countries face, by better equipping
them to combat diseases, hunger and environmental degradation.
“However, unless it is approached in a collaborative manner,
underpinned by a developmental agenda, rapid technological change
could merely serve to entrench existing disparities and between the
countries,” Ramaphosa said.
He further said “through our collective effort, by working together, I
am certain that we will be able to confront the challenges and seize
the opportunities that this new age of development presents.
“We proceed from the understanding that this is not simply a digital
revolution, but a fundamental shift in the way people live, work and
relate. It is a phenomenon that cuts across all industries and
technologies,” he said.
This was endorsed by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi who warned
that the fourth industrial revolution would have an impact on the
lives of all the people in the world.
“We must have the people and human value at the heart of our economic
development as the industrial revolution will have far reaching impact
on small economies like that of us,” Modi warned.
He appeared not dampened by the prospect of the industrial revolution
but said that there was a greater need for Brics countries to change
their curriculum’s in schools and universities to meet the challenges
of the revolution by introducing new technologies.
Modi also urged the Brics leaders to share ideas to fight cyber crime.
Ahead of the signing of trade and investment agreements, President
Ramaphosa consolidated a call by Putin for the Brics countries to
adopt a people’s to people component which would be inclusive of
sporting and cultural exchanges between each other.
Ramaphosa said all five of them had agreed on different types of
working relationship in the field of film, cinema and museums.
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