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Brics 'holds opportunities' for businesses

Johannesburg - The development of women and youth-owned businesses will be part of the new Brics Business Council's goals, council chairperson Patrice Motsepe said on Wednesday.

Motsepe told The New Age business breakfast held at the Brics summit in Durban that while big businesses would interact in the newly formed Brics Business Council, other sectors of business would also get opportunities.

"At the global level you need these big businesses. But we also have to create opportunities for women-owned businesses, youth-owned businesses, businesses from the rural areas as well as the SMMEs," he said.

The Brics Business Council was established during the summit to serve as a platform to strengthen and promote economic trade and investment ties between the business communities of the five Brics countries.

Motsepe, a South African mining billionaire, is the new council's chairperson.

It would also focus on strengthening of trade relations, technology transfer and co-operation in the areas of skills development, banking, green economy, manufacturing and industrialisation.

Motsepe said South Africa and the rest of the African continent shared an "emotional" history with all the members of the Brics countries. "The African continent has a very special and a very distinct history in term of the assistance... that the people of China, Russia, India and Brazil have provided for us as South Africans and the continent towards our freedom and democracy."

He said the historical ties would help in strengthening the new business partnerships established during the Brics summit.

"It (the history) lays a very important foundation for us to build these huge business ties and investment opportunities in South Africa, but also partner to invest in Africa for the benefit of all of our people," Motsepe said.

He said the council would work hard to improve the standards of living, create jobs "and give a better future for all our people".

Brics is a group of developing countries made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

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