In a new development, the BRICS group can see a new member country even as Azerbaijan has announced that they have applied to be a part of the bloc formally on Tuesday. The country has shown its interest to be a part of the BRICS group which represents developing countries.
Reiteration from the Spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry:
Aykhan Hajizade who’s the spokesperson of the foreign ministry also confirmed the news that Azerbaijan is also applying for the membership of BRICS and the same was reiterated by him in an interview.
Putin’s visit to the country:
However, this development also comes at the time when the Russian President Vladimir Putin was on a two-day visit to the country. Where a joint declaration was also adopted to support Baku’s membership to the bloc between 18th and 19th August as the Russian President held bilateral talks with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev who reiterated that how they have been progressing in terms of economics and trade despite the global challenges.
The Russian President also welcomed the move of Azerbaijan applying for BRICS and said that in the month of October, they will be happy to see Illham Heydarovich at the meeting of the CIS Council in Moscow for the framework of BRICS Summit which will be held in Kazan.
The Russian President has also aimed to portray BRICS as an association and representation of the global majority. Moscow is aiming for this as an aim to stand against the West and also avoid sanctions in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The BRICs group is also deliberating to replace dollar as the key currency of the international trade.
There has been a bonhomie between both countries. In February 2022, they had also signed a declaration on allied interaction which was just days before when Russia had decided to invade Ukraine in a full-blown war.
Joint declaration with China:
Even before Russia endorsed this request of Azerbaijan, the latter’s interest in joining the group was expressed in the joint declaration with China for developing strategic partnership between two countries. The declaration was signed in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit also known as SCO which was held in Astana which happened on July 3rd 2024. The declaration was stated in paragraph 4.5, Azerbaijan’s interest to join BRICS which was endorsed by China.
New entrants in BRICS:
However, Azerbaijan is not only the one who is eager to join the bloc. Earlier, India had hailed the entry of Egypt, Iran, UAE (United Arnab Emirates), Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia as they joined the bloc as their delegates had attended a crucial meeting of the bloc which was held in Russia.
Dammu Ravi who is a senior diplomat had led the representation at the BRICS Foreign which is in Nizhny Novgorod in Western Russia. The meeting was held in June which was the first ministerial meeting which was held after the expansion of BRICS in 2023 where Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and UAE had joined the bloc as members of the BRICS.
After the meeting a joint statement was issued where they reiterated the commitment to scale-up the framework of the Bloc under three pillars which is politics and security, economy and finance and people to people exchanges. Usually the External Affairs Minister attends such events but since the Modi 2.0 swearing in was taking place, he was reappointed on 9th June.
What is BRICS:
BRICS is an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa which was created in 2006, earlier it was BRIC but with the inclusion of South Africa in the year 2010, it became BRICS. The group was established to bring the important developing countries together, now it also includes the world’s largest producers of oil.
