Sri Lankan President expresses interest in joining BRICS

Sri Lankan President Anura Dissanayake has written a letter to Russian leader Vladimir Putin expressing interest in joining BRICS. Sri Lanka's Ambassador to the Russian Federation Pakir Amza said on December 26.

"Sri Lanka expressed its interest in joining the BRICS family in a letter to President Vladimir Putin from President Anura Dissanayake," Amza told RIA Novosti.

This letter was sent in October. In addition, the ambassador said that the country had approached other BRICS member states and conveyed to them its request to join the association as a partner country. Sri Lanka is now waiting for their positive response.

Algeria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Belarus, Belarus, Chad, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Honduras, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Morocco, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Senegal, South Sudan, Turkey, Uganda, Venezuela, Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe also want tojoin the bloc. Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Bolivia and Cuba will become BRICS partners from January 1, 2025.

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said in October that BRICS' joint work will be strengthened after the association expanded in 2024. The Russian Finance Minister thanked colleagues from Egypt, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Iran for quickly immersing themselves in working on new topics and initiatives that exist in the association.

At the time, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov called BRICS a model of multipolarity. He recalled that in 2024 the Russian Federation was the chair of the association and it meant a lot for the country.

BRICS is an interstate association of countries. The last summit at the level of heads of its member states was held in Johannesburg in August 2023. As a result, the BRICS members decided on a historic expansion. On January 1, 2024, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa were joined by Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia and the UAE.