Foreign trade as a factor inﬂ uencing the development of transnational transport and logistics systems

(cid:2) BRICS, an international association of countries with the greatest potential for economic growth is an example of a promising international alliance capable of effectively integrating economic interests and processes to provide a serious alternative to the developed countries in terms of the international trade scale and efﬁ ciency. At the same time, the existing format for discussing intentions and statements requires the targeted institutionalization of economic interactions and the creation of international economic, primarily transport and logistics, systems. These systems should be capable of using advanced transport and logistics concepts in terms of full consumer value chains to ensure effective support for international trade commodity ﬂ ows based on real-time requests and existing import-export specialization of the participating countries. The article provides statistical data characterizing the volumes of Russia’s foreign trade with key international partners in non-CIS countries including the BRICS countries. The Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation provided the statistical information in the ﬁ eld of foreign trade and its main aspects. The analysis of existing international commodity ﬂ ows unequivocally demonstrates a possibility of increasing international trade through the creation of transnational transport and logistics systems capable of ensuring the functioning of international value chains and efﬁ cient international exchange.


INTRODUCTION
The new geopolitical reality that emerged in 2022 requires updating of theoretical and applied approaches to the creation, operation and modernization of transnational transport and logistics systems that will ensure the most eff ective implementation of the international division of labor, specialization and competitive advantages of the countries ready to implement active competitive strategies in international markets. One of the main aspects of such systems is handling of foreign trade commodity fl ows between countries-members of international economic alliances and associations including the BRICS group that represents the countries with the highest economic growth rates within the global economy.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
As an objective justifi cation for the necessity of effective transnational transport and logistics systems, the Customs statistics data refl ecting the structure of export and import fl ows between the Russian Federation and the key international partners including BRICS countries have been used. In conditions of global geopolitical transformations, the creation of reliable transport and logistics corridors based on eff ective infrastructure capacities will ensure regular, fair and effi cient international trade. It will help to overcome unjustifi ed discriminatory restrictions of certain international entities and to promote the international competitiveness of Russian goods.

RESEARCH RESULTS
Statistical data characterizing the volume of Russia's trade with the key international partners in non-CIS countries including BRICS countries are presented in Table 1, analyzed and summarized in Table 2, and visualized in Fig. 1, 2. The statistical information in the fi eld of foreign trade and its main aspects was provided by the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation.
The dynamics and structure of Russia's foreign trade with non-CIS countries in 2010-2018 are shown in Table 1 1 .
The offi cial Rosstat website has not been publi shing the statistical data for 2019-2022 in the public currently. Nevertheless, the presented data analysis shows the main trends in the development of Russia's international trade with non-CIS countries.
Looking at the Russian Federation export business in 2010-2018, Russia's main trading partners were non-CIS European countries. The Russian-European partnership has been steadily declining, whereas the Russian-Chinese export operations have been steadily increasing. Over the period of 2010-2018, the export volumes to Europe fell from 61.1 to 48.5 %, while similar export trade indicators concerning China increased from 6.0 to 14.2 %. These tendencies took place against the background of growing export cooperation with India (as of 2010, 1.9 % and as of 2018, 2.0 % of total Russian exports) and Brazil (as of 2010, 0.53 %, and as of 2018, 0.65 %). South Africa was not one of Russia's key foreign trade partners in terms of exports in 2010-2018.
Russia's import volumes with Asian countries saw a rapid growth over the period of 2010-2018 as compared to the falling import volumes from Europe and steady import commodity fl ows from America. In 2010, the import volume from Europe exceeded 48.3 % and by late 2018, it had dropped to 41.8 % in specifi c terms. Alternatively, import volumes from Asia amounted to 35.3 % of the total import operations in 2010 and exceeded 40.7 % in 2018. The tendency was likely to have continued in 2021, and Asian countries have become the main trading partners -importers to the Russian Federation.
Проведенный анализ сложившихся товарных потоков международной торговли однозначно указывает на возможность роста их масштабов на основе формирования перспективных транснациональных транспортно-логистических систем, способных обеспечить функционирование международных цепочек создания ценности и эффективный международный обмен.   Import volumes from China amounted to 19.8 % of Russia's total import trade goods in 2010 and grew as high as 24.6 % in 2018. The Chinese import fl ows are envisaged to reach 30-35 % in 2022-2023. Import volumes from India increased almost 1.5 times in 2010-2018, but accounted for 1.5 % only of the total import goods at the end of 2018. Nevertheless, it shows that there is a potential for international trade growth between our countries and requires the development of transnational transport and logistics systems that can improve the interaction effi ciency on certain types of goods, among other things.
Russia's import volumes from Brazil decreased from 2.07 to 1.17 % in specifi c terms in 2010-2018. This was because of raw-material orientation and the lack of raw-material movement between our countries in the absence of large internationally competitive manufacturing centers.
The analysis of existing international commodity fl ows expressly demonstrates that their growth potential lies in the creation of promising transnational transport and logistics systems ensuring international value chains and effi cient international exchange. Let us explain the above on the example of Russian-Indian cooperation prospects in terms of export/import of vital food industry products. India is the world's largest player in the vegetable oil market: at the end of the 2020-2021 season, the import volume of this important industrial product amounted to more than $15.71 billion, an increase of 63 % compared with the previous year, while the natural volume of imports (i.e., driven by rising prices) remained unchanged 2 . The share of sunfl ower oil import was more than 14.04 %, or 1.9 million tons, with a 25 % drop in natural volume compared with the previous year. It happened due to a sharp increase in the oil export price in the Russian Federation and Ukraine and other countries.
A model of an eff ective transnational transport and logistics system capable of ensuring vegetable oil products movement is shown below (Fig. 3).
The system described above may serve as a model for the development and implementation of specialized transport and logistics systems, or international trade "bridges" in the BRICS architecture, ensuring infrastructure support of international commodity fl ows with high indicators of reliability and trans-parency of goods movement. It may be a good way of introducing modern container technologies allowing the transportation of liquid cargo in tankcontainers.

CONCLUSION
According to the results of the BRICS 2022 Summit in Beijing, China, it is worth noting that this foreign economic union is a platform for discussion and statements of intentions rather than a real foreign economic alliance with integrated transport and logistics systems capable of implementing the international competitive advantages of member-countries. At the same time, the emergence and functioning of the New Development Bank, as well as the positive interaction experience between Russian Railways Company and this international fi nancial structure on the infrastructure projects implementation indicate a positive dynamics in institutionalization of international economic intentions of the BRICS countries and the prospects of their functional support.