A global platform focused on the BRICS integration at the municipal level through the cooperation between statesmen, high-profile politicians, representatives of business and scientific circles, corporate executives and public experts for common strategic purposes.

This includes a wide range of areas of cooperation, such as economy and business, scientific and technological progress, municipal digitalization, technology exchange of "smart cities", innovative technologies in construction, education and personnel training, medicine, sports, ecology, traditions preservation, cultural exchange, creation of long-term strategic projects, etc.

The key mission of the project is to be a practical tool for the territorial development of the BRICS municipalities by merging business contacts, combining the efforts of international business to attract investment, as well as interaction and experience exchange, contributing to the formation of a meaningful and constructive agenda for a broad multidisciplinary partnership aimed at achieving sustainable development.

The Project of international municipal BRICS cooperation serves as a platform for the organization of various international events within the interests and goals of BRICS municipalities and falling under the Project's objectives. In 2019, the events of the Project were the International Municipal BRICS Forum and the International Rugby-7 Tournament among the youth municipal teams from the BRICS countries.

The I International Municipal BRICS Forum (IMBRICS Forum – 2019) was held on 20-22 September 2019 with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and the Committee for External Affairs of St. Petersburg. It was attended by around 700 delegates from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - representatives of federal, regional and municipal authorities, various government agencies, large commercial business communities, public and scientific organizations. The agenda of the forum was devoted to discussion of key issues in the fields of economy and business, construction and modernization of urban infrastructure, digitalization and innovative technologies, development of entrepreneurship, industry, agriculture, ecology, tourism, culture and education, sports, humanitarian cooperation and social project management. The IMBRICS Forum - 2019 was dedicated to building an open dialogue between government and business, discussing economic and industrial development, trade, investment diversification and evolution of investment practices in Russia and the world. The main objective of the forum was to identify common interests for further municipal development of the BRICS countries through constant interaction and annual calendar events. At the forum, conditions were created for the presentation of economic, investment and public projects with a total worth of $ 550 million.

The exhibition complex "LenExpo" located on Vasilievsky island of St. Petersburg and the Presidential Library on Senate Square were the main venues of the forum.

As a result of IMBRICS Forum - 2019, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation supported the idea of holding the forum in 2020 and agreed on the "BRICS Plus" format of the event. The city and the venues of the business program events will remain the same as in 2019.

The sports and leisure programmes play an important part in the project of international municipal BRICS cooperation. The International Rugby–7 Tournament among the youth municipal teams from the BRICS countries was held on August 18 (regional stage) and September 22 (international stage) 2019 in St. Petersburg with the support of the Rugby Union of Russia. The idea of the tournament meets the task of strengthening sports cooperation of the BRICS countries and the development of the sports industry among the BRICS municipalities - one of the priority areas of the project.

The team sport of rugby was chosen in light of the idea of unification for the common goal which is a victory. RUGBY, as a team game, has a high potential and is currently developing rapidly and actively in the Russian Federation.

11 teams participated in the 2019 tournament. The main attention of the organizers of the tournament was paid to the creation of a mechanism for finding talented young athletes and developing them to a highly qualified level with the possibility of further employment in professional clubs of the BRICS countries within the framework of the annual sporting events of the project.

In order to implement the goals and activities of the Project, the organizing committee of the Project of international municipal BRICS cooperation was established.

The composition of the organizing committee includes the head of the project and the heads of 5 departments related to the organization of the project activities in their directions : department for development, department for international affairs, department for regional affairs, department for coordination with entrepreneurs, sports department

Meetings of the organizing committee are held monthly during the year, and weekly in preparation for the project events. The organizing committee approves key decisions, which are subsequently executed by the project departments.
Chairman of the Board of Trustees of ANСO "Megaforum", head of the organizing committee of IMBRICS Forum - 2020 - Mikhail Cherepanov

The project of international municipal BRICS cooperation meets the task of deepening the BRICS integration, promotes international experience exchange of the best regional practices, provides an opportunity to establish and develop business contacts, promote investment, strategic and socially significant goals of the project participants to attract investment to the regions, as well as creates required conditions for building mutually beneficial cooperation between municipalities and regions with commercial entities.

In addition, the participants of the project of international municipal BRICS cooperation can take advantage of the opportunity to attract a certain circle of people - representatives of state authorities, business corporations, high-profile funds and other structures - for the promotion and implementation of large individual projects. This opportunity is provided by the Organizing Committee of the project through the following procedure: the project is submitted to the Commission for strategic projects and investment attraction, which evaluates the project, and then decides on the advancement of the project by a general vote. The Commission needs 2/3 of the votes to make a decision. The work on attracting the necessary number of people for the implementation of the project begins after relaying the Commission's decision to the Organizing Committee. This solution provides support to the strategic project.