BRICS-MSME Round Table and Seminar on Services

The 2nd meeting of the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) Round Table and the Seminar on Services was held on 28 July, 2016 at Agra. 
•    The BRICS is a grouping consisting of 5 countries namely Brazil, China, India, Russia and South Africa. 
•    Mr Dammu Ravi, Joint Secretary, Department of Commerce was the moderator of both the MSME Round Table and the Seminar on Services. 
•    The deliberations were centered around the regulatory framework and institutional structures of MSMEs; the role of MSMEs in innovation, technology transfer and international projects; integration of MSMEs in the global value chains and a possible portal for BRICS MSMEs. 
•    India also provided a brief on the 1st BRICS Trade Fair to be held in October, 2016. 
•    In the 2nd BRICS Seminar on Services, the issues that were discussed were cooperation on the services statistics in the BRICS region and possible areas of cooperation on trade facilitation in services. 
•    The discussions were useful and highlighted the importance of the service sector in the BRICS region.