The Russian Ministry of Finance reported that Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Patrushev, during talks in the United Arab Emirates with UAE Vice President and Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, reviewed bilateral economic cooperation and placed particular focus on the proposed BRICS grain exchange. The update said the proposal has support from all BRICS leaders and that its operational framework is under development, with the exchange intended to create independent pricing benchmarks within BRICS and support more objective global valuation of agricultural commodities. The discussions also covered agriculture and environmental management. According to the release, the United Arab Emirates remains one of Russia’s key economic partners in the Middle East, bilateral trade reached a historic high in 2025, mutual agricultural trade has more than doubled over the past three years, and Russian companies are interested in expanding exports to the UAE beyond food products to include mineral fertilisers.