• Klimov said this was evident through the number of countries that participated in the forum held in Vladivostok, Russia both physically and virtually.
• “For the first time it had 10 members and 28 delegations both online and physical. All of them have expressed interest to join BRICS,” he stated.
Image: SCREEN GRAB
A United Russia party official has disclosed that more countries are now seeking to join the BRICS, an association that currently has 10 countries under its umbrella.
Speaking to the media ahead of the BRICS Forum of political parties and partner countries, Deputy Chairman of the Committee on International Affairs of the Federation Council of Russian Federation Andrey Klimov said the membership of the association continues to grow.
He said this, is despite a lot of interference from the current United States and the European Union leadership.
He said they have done everything within their power to discourage joining BRICS but more countries still want to join.
Klimov said this was evident through the number of countries that participated in the forum held in Vladivostok, Russia both physically and virtually.
“For the first time, it had 10 members and 28 delegations both online and physical. All of them have expressed interest to join BRICS,” he stated.
All the 28 delegations, he said asked to join the association.
“The whole structure aimed at destroying BRICS is still being run. This includes publishing articles in mass media across the world among others.”
BRICS currently consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The association that is currently chaired by the Russian Federation under the leadership of President Vladimir Putin.
According to Klimov, what BRICS is offering is freedom of nations, which he said is defined as the right to sovereignty in the United Nations Charter.
He added that BRICS also wants to make doing business between partner states easy by removing the burden of countries carrying another’s debt.
The Deputy Chairman of the Committee on International Affairs of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation said they so far have the BRICS New Development Bank, based in Shanghai, China for this purpose.
On whether the association plans to use one currency going into the future, Klimov said their focus is to streamline the transaction system between partner states.
“The problem is not having one currency. It is the transaction system but there must be political will for that to happen.”
“We have no problem paying each other. 90 per cent of payments between India, China and Russia we pay in rubbles,” Klimov said.
Even as more countries seek to join BRICS, the association stopped any new admissions in June 2024, to first integrate the additional five countries that joined this year.
“It was the decision of the Summit of Heads of State.”
Klimov noted that there are many ways one can participate in BRICS without being a full member.
He, however, said that a country joining BRICS cannot be part of associations that are against it like the EU.
“To participate you don’t have to be a member of BRICS. You can participate in many ways including being an observer member.”
BRICS was established in 2009 as a cooperation platform for the largest emerging economies, uniting Brazil, Russia, India, and China. South Africa joined the group in 2010.
Russia assumed the bloc's rotating presidency on January 1, 2024. On the same day, BRICS expanded its membership to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates.
Saudi Arabia has not formalised its participation but has been taking part in BRICS meetings.