Belarus is an Eastern European country that is looking to join the BRICS alliance in 2024. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said the European country was ready to join the integration process within the BRICS framework.
President Lukashenko explained that BRICS can help Belarus recover its economy and maintain a trade and financial balance. He emphasized that joining the BRICS alliance in 2024 will help bring stability to the country's indigenous economy.
"We are interested in participating in integration processes in that space. BRICS is another platform that helps us maintain economic balance and stability," President Lukashenko told Belarus Belta News.
Belarus Foreign Minister Maksim Ryzhenkov also said that Belarus hopes to be among the top 10 countries to achieve the status of BRICS partner.
According to Mr. Ryzhenkov, Belarus considers BRICS an effective platform, gathering global forces, where Belarus can promote its foreign policy interests, build economic relations and develop trade.
If Belarus is admitted to BRICS in 2024, many other Eastern European countries could join. BRICS could use Belarus to penetrate Eastern Europe and force developing countries to trade in local currencies.
The BRICS de-dollarization agenda seems to attract developing countries that want to boost local currencies and local economies.
However, there is no guarantee that Belarus will join the BRICS alliance in 2024. The expansion is based on consensus and all current members must agree to let the Eastern European join the bloc.
In another development, El Salvador is said to be studying the possibility of joining BRICS. According to Sputnik, El Salvador is interested in attracting foreign investment, mainly from the BRICS countries, because the country understands that it needs to diversify economic relations, not just focus on the US and the World Bank (WB).
"The growing number of countries seeking to join BRICS shows the effectiveness of this cooperation mechanism, which is strongly attractive to developing countries," the Global Times quoted Professor Song Wei at the Faculty of International Relations and diplomacy at Beijing Foreign Language University as saying.
BRICS has strengthened consensus among developing countries and emerged as a strong supporter of their development needs. Whether promoting economic cooperation or supporting fairer global governance, BRICS always protects the practical interests of developing countries - Professor Song commented.
Professor Song noted that the countries that submitted the petition, located on different continents, have seen rapid development in recent years. To meet their growing development needs, they are looking to capitalise on the BRICS mechanism to open up new opportunities for continued growth.
BRICS is an acronym for an initial emerging market cooperation mechanism consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. In January this year, the bloc expanded its membership to include Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Iran and Ethiopia.
In addition, more than 30 other countries have applied to join BRICS.
