New BRICS partner state named

Indonesia has been awarded “partner status” by the BRICS economic group, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandr Pankin said on Friday. Russian media reports said that Malaysia and Thailand also received the designation.

Pankin made the statement on Thursday while addressing the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministerial Meeting in Lima, Peru.

Speaking about the BRICS Summit hosted by Russia in Kazan last month, Pankin said it had “demonstrated the desire of the world majority to establish a just world order, carry out reforms of international institutions, and build equitable economic ties.”

The deputy FM said that an “impressive” set of agreements on trade, investment, artificial intelligence, energy and climate, as well as logistics were made during the summit. “Indonesia, an APEC member state, has become a BRICS partner country,” he said.

The new ‘partner country’ status was approved at the Kazan meeting and is intended to serve as an alternative to membership after more than 30 nations applied to join the organization.

‘Partner country’ status provides for permanent participation in special sessions of BRICS summits and foreign ministers’ meetings, as well as other high-level events. Partners can also contribute to the group’s outcome documents.

Russian media quoted Pankin as saying that Malaysia and Thailand had also become partners, but the two nations were not named in the foreign ministry’s statement.

BRICS was initially comprised of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, and expanded when Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates officially became members on January 1, 2024.

Earlier this week, Russian ally Belarus announced that it had also officially become a BRICS partner country. In a statement, Minsk described the organization as “a pillar of a multipolar world” that gives many nations “hope for a fairer world order.”

On Thursday, Bolivian Foreign Minister Celinda Sosa Lunda revealed that her nation had received an invitation from Russia to become a partner country of BRICS. “We responded positively to this invitation,” she said.

The list of aspiring partners has not been officially announced, but media reports have also mentioned Algeria, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Türkiye, Uganda, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam as potential candidates.