Belarus, Bolivia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Cuba, Uganda, Malaysia, and Uzbekistan will officially become the new partners of BRICS starting January 1 whereas four more countries invited to become partner states are expected to confirm the partner status in near future, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov has said.
Stressing that the economic group – initially comprised by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – is open to like-minded partners, Ushakov explained that the partner-state status of the new partners was approved in October, during the BRICS summit hosted by Russia.
“35 applications to join BRICS in one status or another were received ahead of the Kazan Summit. Some countries wanted to immediately receive full-scale participation, while others wanted to participate in individual events as observers,” the Kremlin aide highlighted.
The bloc has started implementing this status – which serves as as an alternative to membership- faced with more than 30 membership applications from countries eager to join the bloc and gives the partner-countries permanent participation in BRICS summits’ special sessions, foreign ministers’ meetings and other high-level events as well as contribution to the BRICS’s outcome documents.
