China, which has been the rotating presidency of the BRICS bloc this year, said on Friday that it actively supports the expansion of the five-member grouping, a day after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Saudi Arabia and Argentina are in the group. want to join.
Russia’s state-run Tass news agency quoted Lavrov in an interview on Thursday as saying that Riyadh and Buenos Aires have shown interest in BRICS activities.
“The (BRICS) interest in this has been shown by our Saudi friends and by Argentina, which has expressed its (Argentina) foreign minister Santiago Cafiero’s desire to become a full BRICS member,” Lavrov said.
Lavrov said that the next BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) summit is being prepared. “The outreach format will be established within its framework, where about a dozen developing economies will participate,” he said.
Responding to Lavrov’s BRICS expansion remarks, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a media briefing here that “As BRICS chairman this year, China actively supports the start of the BRICS expansion process and ‘BRICS’ ‘Plus’ broadens collaboration.”
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Wang said that the recent meeting of BRICS foreign ministers reached a consensus on the BRICS expansion process and the first ‘BRICS plus’ foreign ministers meeting, which fully shows that BRICS cooperation is open and inclusive.
“China will work with the BRICS parties to continue in-depth discussions on BRICS expansion and to set standards and procedures for the same based on consensus.
“We look forward to more like-minded partners joining the larger BRICS family,” he added.
Foreign ministers and top officials of Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal, UAE and Thailand attended the five-member Group of Foreign Ministers’ meeting held virtually on May 19 as part of Beijing’s ‘BRICS Plus’ initiative.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar attended the BRICS Foreign Ministers’ meeting convened by his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.
China is preparing to hold the BRICS summit this year, the dates of which are yet to be announced.
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The New Development Bank (NDB) of BRICS has already accepted Bangladesh, United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Uruguay as its members.
Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov also indicated in his interview to TASS that several Arab countries are showing interest in establishing partner relations with the eight-member Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which apart from China, includes India and Pakistan as members. Huh. The other members are Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
“These are processes of building a meaningful and positive, non-oppositional coalition, aimed not against anyone,” Lavrov said.
The joint statement issued after the BRICS Foreign Ministers’ meeting on 19 May said, “The Ministers recalled the BRICS efforts to enhance their cooperation in other developing countries and emerging markets and to take forward the BRICS outreach and BRICS Plus cooperation.” Endorsed the terms of reference adopted by BRICS Sherpas in 2021 through inclusive and equitable and flexible practices and initiatives.”
“The Ministers supported the promotion of discussion on the BRICS expansion process among BRICS members. According to a joint statement posted on the website of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, they stressed the need to clarify the guiding principles, standards, norms and procedures for this expansion process.