China News Service:

In 2024, the BRICS group expanded to include 10 member countries. Could you please make an introduction to China's trade with other BRICS countries? What are the expectations for the future? Thank you.

Lyu Daliang:

Since the first BRICS summit in 2009, China's trade relations with other BRICS countries have become increasingly close. The import and export value between China and the other four BRICS countries — Russia, India, Brazil, and South Africa — grew from 960.21 billion yuan in 2009 to 4.32 trillion yuan in 2023, with an average annual growth rate of 11.3%. This growth rate is 3.8 percentage points higher than China's overall import and export growth rate during the same period.

In 2024, the BRICS cooperation mechanism entered a new stage as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, and Ethiopia officially became members of the BRICS group. In the first quarter, China's imports and exports with the other nine BRICS countries reached 1.49 trillion yuan, an increase of 11.3%, accounting for 14.7% of the country's total imports and exports. China's cooperation with the other BRICS countries exhibits strong complementarity across various sectors, characterized by distinct features in imports and exports.

China is Brazil's largest trading partner and largest export market, while Brazil is China's largest trading partner in Latin America. In the first quarter, China's exports to Brazil reached 114.28 billion yuan, an increase of 25.7%, and imports from Brazil amounted to 208 billion yuan, with a growth rate of 30.1%, indicating a rapid increase in imports. Trade between China and Russia continues to expand. In 2023, the two countries achieved their joint annual trade target of $200 billion set by their top leaders ahead of schedule. Since the beginning of this year, trade between China and Russia has continued to grow in sectors such as energy, automobiles, and general machinery equipment. Trade between China and India has seen year-on-year growth for five consecutive quarters, with an increase of 8.5% in the first quarter, maintaining a good development momentum. South Africa has been China's largest trading partner in Africa for 14 consecutive years. In the first quarter, China's exports to South Africa amounted to 35.11 billion yuan, while imports from South Africa reached 66.46 billion yuan.

In addition, China has maintained good cooperation with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates when it comes to energy trade. In the first quarter, both countries were among China's top 10 import sources for energy products. China has carried out pragmatic cooperation with Egypt and Ethiopia in the field of infrastructure. In the first quarter, China's exports of foreign contracted projects to the two mentioned countries achieved rapid growth. Also, our small commodities are very popular in Iran. In the first quarter, China's export volume to Iran through market procurement trade increased by 15.2%. This answers your first question about the import and export situation of China and other BRICS countries.

Regarding your second question, I think the prospect for cooperation in development is promising, and we are fully confident. The latest forecast from the International Monetary Fund shows that the volume of trade in goods and services in developing countries will grow by 4.5% in 2024, higher than the overall global growth rate of 3.3%. As representatives of emerging markets and developing countries, the BRICS countries are expected to become the current global accelerators for economic recovery and trade development. So far, the BRICS countries' volume of trade in goods holds about 20% of the world's total but trade with each other only accounts for about 10% of their respective total foreign trade, meaning there is still great potential for growth. It is believed that, as the content and areas of cooperation among the BRICS family are further enriched and developed, bilateral and multilateral economic and trade exchanges are expected to achieve more positive growth. Thank you.