JOHANNESBURG, August 23. /TASS/. The time has come to establish a BRICS standing transport committee that will deal with the development of interregional and global transport corridors, Russian President Vladimir Putin said via video link at the 15th BRICS summit.
"We believe the time has come to establish a permanent transport commission within the BRICS framework, which will deal not merely with the North-South project but also with issues of developing logistical and transport corridors, interregional and global ones, on a wider scale," the Russian leader said. If the other BRICS countries are amenable to this proposal, the Russian side could explore this idea within the framework of presidency in BRICS in 2024, Putin added.
The creation of new, sustainable and safe transport routes is an important priority on the BRICS agenda, the Russian President said. "When speaking to participants in the BRICS Business Forum, I already mentioned the urgency of speeding up the development of transcontinental routes, such as the North-South corridor that will connect Russian ports in northern seas and the Baltic Sea with marine terminals on the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean coast and will be capable of facilitating the transit of up to thirty million tons of cargo annually," Putin added.