Bolivia's President highlights opportunities for the country with BRICS partner status

Bolivia, which joined the BRICS community as a partner state on January 1, has thus gained new opportunities to expand trade and diversify its economy. This was announced by the President of the South American country Luis Arce on January 2.

He said that by integrating with BRICS, the country will be able to give a boost to key sectors such as energy, trade, manufacturing, technology and sustainable finance.

"In a world that is full of uncertainty due to the transition to a new world order, the opportunity to be part of this bloc will allow us to diversify and protect our heritage," the head of state pointed out on his page on the social network X (former Twitter).

As Arce added, for Bolivia the BRICS partner status "opens new doors" and allows "to expand trade relations with dynamic and growing markets".

Southern Collective: Bolivia and Cuba to become BRICS partners from January 1

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the other states had also accepted the invitation

Earlier, on December 27 last year, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that nine countries will join BRICS as partners from January 1, 2025. They are Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Thailand, Uganda, Uganda and Uzbekistan. Four more countries have been invited to join as partners. Brazil became the chair of BRICS from the same day. After receiving responses to the invitations, the Brazilian BRICS chairmanship will announce their new status, the Russian Foreign Ministry specified.

Earlier, on December 23, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said that BRICS is open to like-minded people. He recalled that before the October summit in Kazan, 35 applications for joining the work of the association were received. More than 20 countries are currently interested in the dialog.

BRICS is an interstate association of countries. The last summit at the level of heads of state was held in Johannesburg in August 2023. Following its results, 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 United Arab Emirates (UAE).