BRICS leaders have agreed on a list of nations that will be invited to join as partner countries, as the bloc seeks to strengthen its role as a counterbalance to Western political and economic influence, and South-east Asian nations Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam are reportedly on it.
At the close of the three-day Brics Summit chaired by Russia on Thursday (Oct 24), President Vladimir Putin said in a press conference that several of the countries that participated in the Brics-plus meetings have handed over proposals to join as fully fledged members of the bloc.
“This is how it’s going to develop further. We are going to send out invitations and proposals to future partner nations, proposing that they should participate in such a capacity in our association,” the Russian leader said.
“Once we have a positive response, we will announce who is going to be on this list. It would not be proper for us to publicise that until we have received some feedback, even though almost all of these countries have sent their proposals and requests in the past.”
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A viral post on X by @Bricsinfo claimed that 13 countries were invited to join as partner countries, citing sources at the summit. The account has a gold checkmark and a square profile image, which X says indicates it is an official organisation account through Verified Organizations.
The account joined X in October 2021, and describes itself as bringing “unparalleled coverage of all-things Brics in real-time”.
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The other countries named in the post are African nations Algeria, Nigeria, Uganda; European countries Belarus and Turkey; Cuba and Bolivia in the Americas; as well as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in Central Asia.
The bloc’s leaders also announced in a joint communique on Wednesday that it has endorsed a new category, termed “partner countries”, and welcomed the “considerable interest by countries of the Global South”. The statement did not provide further details.
The Global South is broadly used to refer to various countries that are generally less economically developed, and lie largely in the southern hemisphere in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Chinese President Xi Jinping described the bloc’s decision to invite other countries as “another major progress in the development of Brics”.
“The enlargement of Brics is a major milestone in its history, and a landmark event in the evolution of the international situation,” said the Chinese leader in a speech at the summit.
As at 8.30 pm on Thursday, only the Thai foreign ministry has revealed to local media that the kingdom has been named a partner country, according to Thai news website The Nation.
The three-day Brics Summit began on Tuesday (Oct 22) and saw the attendance of leaders from some of the world’s largest economies.
The idea for the alliance was birthed in 2006 by Brazil, Russia, India and China, with the first summit taking place in Russia in 2009. The alliance was expanded in 2010 to include South Africa. The bloc was named after these members.
At last year’s summit in Johannesburg, Brics leaders invited Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to join, in what several leaders hailed as a historic move – though Argentina backed out after its new president took over.
This year, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, Thai Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa and Indonesia’s new foreign minister Sugiono represented their countries for the Brics-plus meetings in Russia.
Who’s in, who’s out?
Malaysia confirmed in July it had submitted a letter of application to join Brics, and is open to participating as a member country or a strategic partner.
Thailand handed in its formal request in June. South-east Asia’s second-largest economy is also eyeing membership at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
At the Brics-plus outreach summit on Thursday, Lao President Thongloun Sisoulith said in his remarks that the South-east Asian nation is formally expressing its interest to join the bloc.
The Philippines and Singapore are unlikely to join.
Malaysia-Russia ties
As Malaysia gears up to chair South-east Asia’s apex policymaking forum next year, observers expect Asean-Russia ties to share more of the spotlight in 2025, what with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim rubbing shoulders with his Russian peer.
Anwar has already invited Putin to the Asean Summit, an event typically attended by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who this year held sideline talks with Laos and Vietnam.
In fact, the first Asean-Russia Summit was held in 2005 under Malaysia’s chairmanship, which means that next year will be its 20th anniversary. A total of four of these meetings have been held thus far.
Putin also invited Malaysia to the Brics Summit, a move Anwar described as “a clear testament to the importance Russia places on Malaysia”.
“This marks a significant step towards our ultimate goal of joining the grouping,” the Malaysian premier wrote in a Facebook post in September at the Eastern Economic Forum.
Putin said that Russia will pass chairmanship of Brics to Brazil for next year. The South American country currently holds the Group of 20 presidency, with the Leaders’ Summit scheduled for Nov 18 and Nov 19 this year.