The Russian embassy in Sri Lanka rejected the fake news that claimed Sri Lanka’s bid to join the BRICS grouping had been denied. The Russian Embassy in Colombo shared the clarification on the social media platform X and released a press statement stating that the Russian BRICS Chairship welcomed Sri Lanka’s interest.
“The Embassy noticed the misleading article regarding Sri Lanka’s bid for BRICS membership, which was published in the “Sunday Island” on November 09, 2024”.
Sri Lanka’s application will be considered by BRICS in due course in full consultation & consensus: Russian embassy in Colombo https://t.co/pCzlIMLLC6 pic.twitter.com/FOLRUzgPft
— Sidhant Sibal (@sidhant) November 11, 2024
“The Embassy would like to highlight that Sri Lanka has applied to join BRICS. The press statement noted that the Russian BRICS Chairship welcomed Sri Lanka’s interest”. The Russian Embassy further informed that Sri Lanka’s application would be considered by BRICS in due course of time, along with full consultation and consensus. The application would be considered along with the bids of numerous other countries who have also applied.
Notably, various countries have recently expressed interest in joining the BRICS grouping, including Malaysia and Thailand. “The local media reports that Sri Lanka’s application has been rejected are wrong,” the Russian Embassy added.
The 16th BRICS Summit took place in Kazan, Russia, from October 22 to October 24. BRIC started as a formal grouping after the Leaders of Russia, India, and China met in St Petersburg on the margins of the G8 Outreach Summit in 2006. The grouping was formalised during the first meeting of BRIC foreign ministers on the margins of UNGA in New York in 2006.
The first BRIC Summit was held in Russia’s Yekaterinburg in 2009. In 2010, at the BRIC Foreign Ministers’ meeting in New York, it was agreed to expand BRIC into BRICS by including South Africa. South Africa attended the 3rd BRICS Summit in Sanya in 2011.
A further expansion of BRICS took place in 2024 with five new members – Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. A statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office expressed that the expansion of BRICS with new members last year has added to its inclusivity and agenda for the global good. India has routinely expressed great faith in multilateral institutions such as BRICS. “India values the close cooperation within BRICS, which has emerged as an important platform for dialogue and discussion on issues concerning the global developmental agenda, reformed multilateralism, climate change, economic cooperation, building resilient supply chains, promoting cultural and people to people connect, among others,” PM Modi had earlier noted.
