00:00I think we will see more ambitious targets on trade with respect to investment.
00:06We've seen already in the past several years that trade and investment between countries such as Russia, China, India has been on the significant increase in the past several years.
00:23And I expect this upward trajectory to continue with ambitions further elevated and facilitated to a significant degree by the creation of new institutions within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the new development bank, and the operation of institutions within BRICS as well.
00:46All of that, I think, will serve to further increase mutual trade and investment.
00:52You mentioned the SCO Development Bank.
00:55So let's talk a little bit more about strengthening those financial ties.
00:59What really is the difference between that and the BRICS New Development Bank?
01:06Well, the key difference is the geography of operations.
01:10If the BRICS Bank is really pretty much a global organization that covers all of the regions of the global south, including Africa and South America,
01:22in the case of the development bank of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, this is Eurasia.
01:30So the key task for the development bank of the SCO organization will be greater connectivity and the projects within Eurasia.
01:42And, of course, this is a tremendous task for the developing economies in the region because there are a lot of landlocked economies in Eurasia,
01:55a lot of countries that are isolated from global markets by unique geography.
02:00And there is a tremendous role that this bank, the SCO Bank, could play in forging greater connectivity within Eurasia.
02:11How much are the signals that you're getting here, a reaction, do you think, to the increasingly polarized trade backdrop?
02:19Yes, I think certainly the trends that we're seeing with, I would say, unprecedented protectionism in the global economy,
02:31this is something that is certainly pushing a lot of the economies of the global south towards seeking greater economic cooperation,
02:39cooperation, forging closer economic ties, boosting mutual trade, south-south trade as a way to compensate for the negative effects of the protectionist waves
02:53that we're seeing coming, whether from the U.S. or other parts of the developed world.
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