Bangladesh
BRICS Membership Bangladesh not among six new BRICS members
Own Correspondent, Dhaka, 24 August 2023: Six more countries have been announced as BRICS members. These countries will be invited to become full members. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the names of the new member states.
Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Argentina, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have been announced as the new members of BRICS. But Bangladesh is not in this list.
The new membership will be effective from January 1 next year. As a result, Brazil, Russia, China, India and South Africa will have a total of 11 member countries in this global economic alliance.
The leaders discussed the matter on Wednesday night based on the recommendations of the ministers. They discussed extensively.
Meanwhile, soon after Ramaphosa's announcement, Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed the new member states.
He said, "I welcome these six countries to BRICS and congratulate the leaders and people of these countries. India has close ties, historical ties with each country and I believe that these countries will work together for a new era of cooperation and prosperity."
More than 40 countries, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Algeria, Bolivia, Indonesia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Cuba, Congo, Comoros, Gabon and Kazakhstan, are members of this one of the world's largest economic alliances. Among them, at least 23 countries, including Bangladesh, formally applied. But only six countries have been granted new membership.
India has made strong efforts to get new members into the BRICS alliance. Last Wednesday, the Indian Prime Minister publicly expressed their agreement in this regard. India's interest in making various countries BRICS members is explained there.
In relation to Bangladesh, it is said in the report that it will be relatively easy for India to select Dhaka's candidature. Bangladesh is India's closest neighbor under the Sheikh Hasina government. Although China remains one of their top donors and sources of investment, New Delhi has considerable confidence in Dhaka – at least as long as the Awami League government is in power.
The relationship is not formally termed strategic. But a joint statement in 2022 said the status of the bilateral relationship "goes beyond strategic partnership".
