During their meeting, ministers of the BRICS countries discussed the development of cooperation in the field of justice. Many talking points were the same as those from the session “Legal assistance in the BRICS countries” at the St Petersburg Internation

At the first meeting of the BRICS countries’ ministers of justice, Konstantin Chuichenko, the Russian Minister of Justice, described the lines along which the countries may develop cooperation in this field. These potential areas of joint work are being focused on creating effective mechanisms for regulating cross-border business and civil relationships, while also safeguarding foreign investments.

Many points that the minister mentioned were previously spelled out during the legal session “Legal assistance in the BRICS countries: a legal framework for mutual investments”, which Sergey Pepeliaev, Pepeliaev Group’s managing partner, moderated at the St Petersburg International Legal Forum in June 2024.

Among the promising areas of cooperation, the minister named the following:

• simplifying the procedure for foreign judgments in civil and commercial cases to be recognised and enforced;
• improving the international legal basis for mutual legal assistance to be provided on issues in civil, family and criminal cases;
• creating an international investment arbitration centre for the BRICS countries;
• working together to promote the positions of the BRICS countries in international forums in terms of it being unacceptable to apply unilateral restrictive measures and of it being necessary to comply with the immunity of state officials and state property;
• expanding cooperation in the field of the supply of legal services and free legal assistance to the population.

The session “Legal assistance in the BRICS countries: a legal framework for mutual investments” was organised at the St Petersburg International Legal Forum by specialists from Pepeliaev Group. Representatives of leading law firms from India, China, Iran and other countries were invited to participate in the discussion. All of them are reliable business partners of Pepeliaev Group that are participating in significant projects being implemented in the interests of the largest international companies.

Drawing on their own experience of implementing international business projects, the participants discussed how the legal mechanisms that are used to regulate business relations between the BRICS countries are changing and what can be done to improve them.

The discussion that was held within the framework of the St Petersburg International Legal Forum kicked off the discussion about developing cooperation at a higher state level, thus becoming a tool for boosting the prospects of inter-state cooperation.