10 Oct 2024 21:18

Kremlin believes BRICS may be expanded further through 'partner country' category

MOSCOW. Oct 10 (Interfax) - Russia believes that the further expansion of BRICS would be feasible to accomplish through arranging partnerships with countries concerned, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov said.

"We believe that the partner country formula is quite suitable in this situation, as the number of BRICS countries increased dramatically at the summit in the South African Republic," Ushakov told reporters, when asked about Moscow's attitude toward BRICS expansion.

"At the present time, we believe it would be more convenient to engage new members through the partner country category," Ushakov said.

Moscow has its own consideration as to what countries could be invited to BRICS as partner countries on a priority basis, he said.

"We believe it would be logical enough to consider bids from those CIS [Commonwealth of Independent States] countries that are interested in cooperation with BRICS. If you take a broader look, I'd think that, of course, BRICS could have even more influence if a county like Indonesia, a huge country both in terms of its territory and its population and a leading Muslim state, would occupy some place in our cooperation," he said.

However, the final say rests with Jakarta itself, he said.

There is no full unanimity within BRICS as concerns its continued expansion, Ushakov said.

"Some of the current member believe that it would be better to stop at ten and hold off on expanding, and others favor the admission of new members, that is, the association's further expansion. Moreover, they've proposed specific countries that could become members," he said.

The BRICS leaders will discuss the matter at the upcoming summit in Kazan, he said.

"I hope we'll be able to work out modalities of the partner country category before the summit, after which we could discuss possible candidacies among countries that could become BRICS partner countries,"

he said.

The admission of new members is also typical for some other international associations, such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), he said.

Thirty-four countries currently take an interest either in full membership of BRICS or some form of cooperation with it, Ushakov said.

"The BRICS' doors are open to countries of the same views, which share the association's basic principles and goals," he said.