Bangladesh must wait to join BRICS

The BRICS group is not being expanded in the Johannesburg summit due to differences of views among the members of the club.

The summit is scheduled to take place on 22-24 August.

As a result, interested countries including Bangladesh have to wait to join the club--Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

The alliance was keen to expand the five-country club last year. In this context, at least 23 countries including Bangladesh have expressed their willingness to join BRICS.

However, India and Brazil don't want to turn the forum into an anti-West one.

BRICS, an economic alliance of five countries, started its journey in 2006.
India and Brazil not interested.

China was very interested in expanding BRICS. It is understood that China wants to turn BRICS into an anti-western platform.

Diplomatic sources said, although China and Russia agree to expand BRICS, India and Brazil didn't.

India, however, said the fundamental policy for the expansion of BRICS needs to be finalised before including new members.

South Africa, the host of BRICS, has also sided with India and Brazil although it (SA) has not disclosed openly.

As the activities of BRICS are being operated on the basis of unity, it is not being expanded.

Diplomatic sources in Dhaka and Pretoria said elaborated discussions will not be held over inclusion of new members. As this issue is not included in the agenda of the summit.  However, the welcoming of the inclusion of new members will come up in the discussion of the summit of the five-member economic alliance.

The issue of Bangladesh joining BRICS is nothing new. Bangladesh joined the New Development Bank established by BRICS in 2021.

However, the issue came to the fore after prime minister Sheikh Hasina held a meeting with South African president Matamela Cyril Ramaposha on the sideline of an event of International Labour Organisation (ILO) in June.

After the meeting of two top leaders, foreign minister AK Abdul Momen told journalists that Bangladesh may join as a member of BRICS in August.

Diplomatic sources said Bangladesh has formally applied for the membership of BRICS.

So far 23 countries have applied to join BRICS. Of these, 15 countries applied in 2023.

While speaking to newsmen at his office on 10 August, AK Abdul Momen said South African president Matamela Cyril Ramaposha invited prime minister Sheikh Hasina to join BRICS. At that time it was thought that they would include new members.

The foreign minister also said it ultimately depends on five members of BRICS.

He said, "There is a debate over the inclusion of new membership. Three countries want to include new membership while India and Brazil want to frame new rules and regulations. The South African president at the time said they want to include four countries. We wanted to know, who are they? At the time he said, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Indonesia and Bangladesh."

India's non-government research organisation Observer Research Foundation vice president and London Kings College professor Harsh Pant in an article said Indian policymakers are cautious although China welcomed the like-minded countries to join BRICS.

When Indian foreign minister S Jaishankar has remarked that work is still progressing over the expansion of BRICS, it makes clear that there are differences among the BRICS member countries over its expansion. So without building confidence among the member states, the efforts on the expansion of the alliance will fail.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, former foreign secretary Md Shahidul Haque on Thursday said it is a long term process for the inclusion of new members in an alliance like BRICS. There is no reason to think that a country will become a BRICS member all of a sudden.

Although the BRICS started out as an alternative platform to the western development model, an effort is on to achieve dominance of China by using BRICS in the changing geopolitics. But Brazil, India and South Africa are not willing to allow it. The expansion of BRICS is no longer limited to the economy or development, it has now become a part of global politics.

In such a context, there is no scope to see the expansion of the alliance by inclusion of new members in a simple way.

Diplomatic analysts said, as BRICS will create an economic opportunity, simultaneously there is a risk of economic dependence among the members of the alliance. So it is important to analyse the conditions of cooperation in the interest of the economy before joining BRICS.

Alongside achieving capacity in negotiations to ensure benefits by joining BRICS, there must be a strong institutional capacity to tackle complex international issues. Bangladesh has to first determine whether it is prepared to join BRICS and then advance forward.

The internal and international priorities of five BRICS member countries is different. So Bangladesh has to take these priorities of five member countries into consideration.

*This report, originally published in the Prothom Alo online and print editions, has been rewritten in English by Rabiul Islam