Russian diplomat says nearly 20 countries want to join BRICS
According to Sergey Ryabkov, BRICS is a group of countries that rejects the traditional leader-follower principle
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told Russian media TASS on Thursday that the number of countries seeking BRICS membership has risen to about 20.
"The list of candidates for joining the association continues to increase. The number of states seeking to join this association is nearing twenty. It reflects BRICS' growing and already considerable role in the international arena as an association of countries with similar positions. I would like to stress it," he said.
According to Ryabkov, BRICS is not a group of countries that operates on the leader-follower principle. The parties "set a constructive agenda based on consensus," he told TASS.
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"Discussions continue on what could be the criteria for joining BRICS, and South Africa has intensified this work," the senior Russian diplomat said.
"I can say that, in our view, the Arab world and the Asia-Pacific region have been clearly `begging' to join BRICS, as they have no representation there today. But we will see exactly what we can offer to the leaders regarding this, and leave this to the leaders to decide at the summit in Johannesburg," he concluded.
