The round table "Support and Development of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses in the BRICS Countries" was held via video conference on July 14 at the Roscongress Foundation. The event was organized by the Russian Ministry of Economic Development and took place within the framework of Russia's presidency of the BRICS Union in 2020.
The meeting was attended by representatives of state authorities, as well as public and business structures focused on interaction and development of SMEs.
Russian and international experts, representatives of relevant agencies and departments shared their experience and best practices on the use of digital technologies for the development and support of SMEs. The main steps that government agencies should take to successfully digitalize this segment of the economy, the most popular tools of state regulation among entrepreneurs, and the principles for evaluating the results of the measures taken were discussed.
The experts paid special attention to two main issues – digital transformation of administrative and tax services and creating the necessary conditions, as well as promoting the digitalization of small and medium-sized enterprises.
"Interaction of the BRICS countries on the issues of support and development of SME is a great opportunity to discover the growing potential of the BRICS economies" noted at the opening ceremony Kirill Sergachev, Deputy Director of Department of Investment Policy and Entrepreneurship Development of the Ministry of Economic Development, "But at the same time, we are seeing today that digitization is fundamentally changing the business model. There is no doubt that digital technologies improve the business landscape and are a source of additional jobs, increasing innovation, strengthening international relations and promoting the export potential of SMEs. For our countries, the fundamental importance of SMEs' transition to the digital economy is obvious."
The Russian side proposed to analyze the level of digitalization in the state structures of the BRICS countries. The information obtained can serve as a basis for further steps to create a digital platform for SMEs in Russia, that operates on the principle of "one window". This platform will significantly simplify the workflow when interacting with tax and administrative services, and will give an impetus to business development. Representatives of the Russian Federation noted that the country is ready to share its experience in developing such a platform with BRICS partners.
In Russia, work on creating such a platform is already underway. As Andrey Belousov, curator of the national project "Small and Medium – Sized Entrepreneurship and Support for Individual Entrepreneurial Initiative", first Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, said on July 13, Russia plans to create "the most user-friendly support system based on personal accounts, where entrepreneurs could solve almost all their tasks: from registering tax payments, financial assistance and advice to support in obtaining loans and selling products." He clarified that such a system can be created thanks to the register of SMEs maintained by the Federal Tax Service.