Pakistan applies for BRICS membership – envoy

Pakistan could join the BRICS economic alliance next year, the country’s newly appointed Ambassador to Russia Muhammad Khalid Jamali said in an interview with TASS news agency on Wednesday.

He said the country had already applied for membership and is counting on Russia’s assistance with the admittance process. Russia will assume the chairmanship of BRICS in 2024. 

“Pakistan would like to be part of this important organization and we are in the process of contacting member countries in general and the Russian Federation in particular for extending support to Pakistan’s membership,” the ambassador stated.

BRICS currently comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. The bloc could be joined by Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE in January. Based on analysts’ estimates, the expanded BRICS+ is already economically larger than the G7, an alliance of industrialized and developed countries that consists of the US, Canada, the UK, France, Italy, Germany, and Japan.

In total, more than 40 countries have so far expressed interest in joining BRICS, according to 2023 chair South Africa. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in early October that BRICS plans to compile a list of candidates for the union’s partner-state status ahead of the upcoming summit in Kazan in 2024. According to the official, during the Russian BRICS chairmanship, member states will focus on expanding the “circle of BRICS friends” further, including countries in Latin America. 

In an interview with the China Media Group last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the expansion of BRICS was based on the global multipolarity principle. According to Putin, no nation wants to be on the sidelines and act on the whim of “some sovereign,” and BRICS is a platform where countries can form relations on the basis of equality.

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