During the "With Maduro +" ("Con Maduro +") program, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro revealed that he issued orders on Tuesday to his government to expedite the procedures required to join BRICS' New Development Bank (NBD).  

"We are going to start the process [of accession]. I have ordered Financial Minister and Executive Vice-President Delcy Rodriguez to take all necessary steps and measures to facilitate submission of Venezuela's application to join the BRICS bank," he said. 

Maduro convened to meet with the NDB head and former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff on Sunday.

Read more: Maduro to make state visit to China from September 8-14: Beijing

The President has frequently shown interest in joining the BRICS as a whole, as he announced in August that Venezuela has officially applied to join. 

#29May

🇧🇷🇻🇪 ¡SE MOSTRÓ INTERESADO!

Nicolás Maduro dijo que "de manera modesta" Venezuela quisiera ser parte de los BRICS, una economía emergente formada por los países Brasil, Rusia, India, China y Sudáfrica

📹: Cortesía pic.twitter.com/FMe0cwJPfl

— ImpactoVenezuela (@ImpactoVE) May 29, 2023

Back in May, Maduro said at a press conference following his meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva that "If they ask Venezuela whether we want to join the BRICS at some point — Venezuela says yes, we would like to be part of the BRICS and take part in the construction of this new architecture and global policy".

Even last month, during his speech at the BRICS summit in the South African capital of Johannesburg, Maduro voiced his intent to contribute to Venezuela's oil-rich economy while reaping benefits from its common goal with the bloc's ambition to end the dependence on the dollar.

The NBD was established in July 2015 during the inaugural meeting of the bank's board of governors in Moscow, Russia, and its main goal is to fund infrastructure and sustainable development projects in the BRICS countries.