BRICS Expansion Will Advance Global South's Interests: Russian Ambassador To India

New Delhi: Russian Ambassador to India Denis Alipov on Friday said new members are expected to join BRICS and that this expansion would solidify the grouping as a significant platform for advancing the Global South's interests.

He said this during an online conference 'BRICS 2.0: New Members, New Horizons', ahead of the BRICS summit next week in Kazan, Russia.

Russia is currently the Chair of BRICS, an important grouping that brings together major emerging economies of the world.

It started as BRIC with four countries -- Brazil, Russia, India and China, with South Africa joining the bloc in 2010, thus it later assumed the nomenclature of BRICS. The grouping was further expanded last year.

In the run-up to the BRICS summit in Russia scheduled for October 22-24, Alipov said new members are expected to join the BRICS grouping and underlined that this expansion would solidify the bloc as a significant platform for advancing the Global South's interests and fostering equitable global development, according to an official statement.

BRICS has become an influential platform for developing and emerging economies to take forward a rich agenda and to promote democratisation of the global governance "reflective of our growing influence", the Russian envoy was quoted as saying in his keynote address at the conference.

The event was organised by a think-tank focused on global affairs, and it focused on the ramifications of BRICS expansion and its evolving role in shaping a multipolar world.

"BRICS respects civilisational diversity and offers the platform for mutually beneficial dialogue free from pressure, double standards or interference in domestic affairs," the envoy said.

Alluding to the planned expansion of the grouping at the 16th BRICS summit in Kazan, Alipov said, "No wonder that a large number of countries has expressed interest in joining, and we see it natural for BRICS to expand in one way or another." "After our membership has doubled last year, which is itself a landmark, we move towards the establishment of a partner-country category to enable interested states to join our practical cooperation," he said. 

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