Russia welcomes bids from Egypt, Bangladesh to Join BRICS
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Russia's Foreign Ministry hails interests expressed by new countries to increase cooperation with the global platform.
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People walk past the BRICS Business Council sign prior to the 11th edition of the BRICS Summit, in Brasilia, Brazil on November 13, 2019 (AP)
Russia welcomes expressed desires by Egypt and Bangladesh to join the BRICS organization, the Russian Foreign Ministry told Sputnik.
On June 17, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov revealed in an interview for RT that the BRICS nations had initiated efforts to align their positions on accepting new members into the group of emerging economies.
The two countries submitted bids to join the rising global organization in the past week, becoming the latest applicants in a list of over 10 countries that are under review by BRICS main members comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
"We welcome the interest expressed by Bangladesh, Egypt, and a number of other countries in increasing cooperation with the BRICS," the Ministry said.
Both countries have already taken part in several BRICS events, including the latest foreign ministers summit in South Africa's Cape Town earlier this month, the ministry added. They are also among the shareholders of the New Development Bank, it continued.
According to the Foreign Ministry, it is confident that "the association would benefit from strengthening cooperation with developing countries, many of which have explicitly stated their desire to do so."
Egypt has participated in expanded talks within the bloc referred to as "friends of BRICS," which also comprises Argentina, Bangladesh, Gabon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Comoros, Cuba, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia.
In response to a question about other countries joining the platform, the Ministry said, "It was premature to talk about specific candidates before all the modalities of this process are agreed."
"In this context, we welcome the willingness of the South African presidency to make progress on the topic of enlargement in the nearest future. We are confident that this issue will attract special attention during the upcoming BRICS summit this year."
Together, the BRICS nations contribute to approximately a quarter of the global gross domestic product, 18% of global trade in goods, and account for over 40% of the world's population.
Apart from the aforementioned candidates, Argentina, Iran, Indonesia, Turkey, and Honduras have also expressed interest in joining the BRICS bloc of developing economies.
Moreover, Syrian Finance Minister Kanaan Yaghi revealed that Damascus intends to apply to join the alliance, as well as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization SCO.
BRICS countries are de-dollarizing trade, as China and Brazil struck a deal in March to ditch the US dollar in their bilateral transactions, which is expected to reduce investment costs and develop economic ties between the two countries.
