Belarus has officially become a partner country of the BRICS economic bloc, the Foreign Ministry in Minsk announced in a statement on Monday. One of Russia’s closest allies, Belarus has become a target of Western sanctions over the Ukraine conflict.
Belarusian Foreign Minister Maksim Ryzhenkov has delivered a letter addressed to Russian President Vladimir Putin and written by the country’s president Alexander Lukashenko, to Moscow’s ambassador in Minsk Boris Gryzlov, the ministry’s press service has said.
In his letter, the Belarusian leader described BRICS as “a pillar of a multipolar world” that gives many countries “hope for a fairer world order.”
The new ‘partner country’ status was approved as a result of the BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan last month. It provides for permanent participation in special sessions of the bloc’s summits and foreign ministers’ meetings, as well as other high-level events. Partners may also join the BRICS outcome documents, thus expanding their geographical scope.
The partner status was devised as an alternative to membership, after more than 30 nations applied to join the bloc. BRICS had initially been comprised of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, and expanded when Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates officially became members earlier this year.
Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that summit participants had agreed on a list of potential candidates, with invitations to be sent shortly.
Although Russia, which holds BRICS chairmanship this year, has not officially released the list of aspiring partners, among the reported potential candidates are Algeria, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Turkiye, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
”If the countries give a positive response, they will be granted the status of BRICS partners,” said Putin.
The delivery of Lukashenko’s personal response to the invitation makes Belarus’ partner status effective, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry stated.
During the Kazan summit last month, Lukashenko said that Minsk was ready to become an “active member” of the bloc.
“We fully share the BRICS philosophy. Belarus is coming to you with specific ideas and projects,” he proclaimed. The Belarusian leader had previously described BRICS as “a large step towards a multipolar world” and an eventual end of the West’s “global hegemony.”
According to President Putin, the BRICS group of emerging countries represents a “prototype of a new, free and non-bloc” form of relations between countries and peoples.