In the year when Moscow and Riyadh celebrate the centenary of their interstate relations, Saudi Arabia is to be the guest country at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. As the biggest economic player in the region, with an oil and gas sector accounting for 48% of its GDP, approximately double that of Russia today, the Kingdom is making huge efforts to diversify its economy, relying on the Vision 2030 strategy. The Saudi Arabia pavilion at SPIEF 2026 is intended precisely as a presentation platform for its investment, export, and tourism potential. This, of course, creates new opportunities for development and deepening of Russian-­Saudi cooperation. BRICS Business Magazine examines the future Riyadh is building for itself, how its ambitious reforms are changing the region, and why BRICS has been assigned a special place in this strategy.

President of the MIT – We are IT Association Evgeny Titarenko on the opportunities that Saudi Arabia’s transformation opens up for Russian IT companies.

Viacheslav Eliseev, Founder and CEO of Job for Arabists, on the nuances of building relationships with Saudi partners.

China is today becoming a globally significant country in the development and use of AI technologies. This is no accident but rather the result of 20 years of state planning, huge investment, and readiness to be the first to implement technologies in real life. While the rest of the world is just discussing the risks, Beijing has already presented a roadmap for the technological development of society up to 2035. BRICS Business Magazine analyzes how China regulates the world’s first AI economy and what the whole world can learn from China in this field.

Overview of major scientific and infrastructure projects launched in BRICS+ countries, as well as excerpts from the most interesting studies of the association member states’ development prospects.

In mid-February this year, the India AI Impact international summit was held in Delhi. It was the first major forum on artificial intelligence organized in the Global South and the first event hosted by India during its BRICS chairmanship. Held under the motto “Three Sutras: People. Planet. Progress”, India AI Impact focused on the aspects of AI development that traditionally receive little attention but must be considered key to the world’s future: the AI race’s environmental cost, the concentration of technological achievements and opportunities in a few countries and regions, which could turn AI from an innovative tool into an instrument for digital colonialism. So, it is critically important today to amplify to the maximum the Global South’s voice in AI discussions. The environmental agenda at India AI Impact was represented by Sergey Rybakov, General Director of the Nature and People Foundation and Programme Director of the Vostok Club. We spoke with him about the key AI development challenges for the Global South and the world as a whole, as well as AI’s positive contribution to sustainable development.

Many industry representatives are already calling the India AI Impact Summit, which was held in mid-­February, the starting point of a new era in global technology policy. The summit in Delhi was the fourth in a series of global forums, the first having been held in 2023 in the UK at Bletchley Park, followed by Seoul, South Korea, and Paris, France. The Summit was hosted by a country from the Global South for the first time. This meant not just a change of geography but a signal as to who will shape the rules for global technological development in the coming decades. BRICS Business Magazine tells how India is changing the global AI agenda.