When you look at the locations picked for each BRICS summit, you can often notice that they are also the birthplaces of large cooperation projects launched by the association's members.
In April of this year, a freight train departed from Xiamen to Moscow, carrying $362,000 worth of goods. This newly-organized direct railway service allows Chinese exporters to cut the usual transit time by 12 days. Exporters say that not only is the railway route quicker than ocean transport, it's also almost 90% cheaper than air freight.
Xiamen is known for its busy sea traffic.But with the new train routes to Russia, the number of freight ships in these waters might decrease pic.twitter.com/Yc8gAe1Iyu
— Denis Bolotsky (@BolotskySputnik) September 3, 2017
For Russia promoting economic cooperation within BRICS format is a key priority. The bloc's own New Development Bank recently approved 7 investment projects in BRICS countries worth around $1.5 billion. This year the bank is set to approve a second package, almost doubling its previous investments. On August 30 the NDB said in a statement that one of the loans is for the development of information technology systems for Russia's judicial system.
Shanghai-based Ctrip — the world's second-largest online travel agency, revealed a 50-percent increase in the number of its Chinese clients who booked trips to Russia this year. The agency's CEO Jane Sun, who is a delegate to this year's BRICS business forum, told Sputnik, on the sidelines of the event, that Russia's decision to lift visa restrictions for Chinese visitors was a smart move.
Ctrip CEO Jane Sun: I’m very glad that the number of tourists from China to Russia is increasing so significantly. 1.5mln people go there.” pic.twitter.com/QBxHFvGMV9
— Denis Bolotsky (@BolotskySputnik) September 3, 2017
In 2016 Ctrip acquired an online travel booking service Skyscanner — a move, which helped the Chinese company to expand its geographic outreach. Jane Sun says that Skyscanner may soon become even more attractive for Russian internet users:
"We want to make a Russian-language website, as Skyscanner has a really strong segment in Russia."
The 9th BRICS summit is being held in Xiamen — a coastal city in China's Fujian province, on September 3-5.. BRICS is an international platform for emerging economies — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Next year BRICS leaders will be meeting in Pretoria, South Africa.
