Pakistan Applies To Join BRICS
Islamabad is looking to join from January 2025 with support from Russia and China
Pakistan has filed an application to join the BRICS group of nations in 2024 and is counting on Russia’s assistance during the membership process, the country’s newly appointed Ambassador to Russia Muhammad Khalid Jamali has stated.
When asked whether the country has filed a BRICS membership bid, Jamali replied that Pakistan has already applied. He confirmed that Islamabad plans to join the group under Russia’s presidency, in 2024.
“Pakistan would like to be part of this important organization and we are in process of contacting member countries for extending support to Pakistan’s membership in general and Russia in particular,” the ambassador added.
Pakistan is already a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, which includes fellow BRICS members China, India, and Russia. It holds a key position within China’s Belt & Road Initiative investment portfolio with Beijing estimated to have placed development funds of US$65 billion into the country as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). That is ultimately intended to link Western China to the Persian Gulf, and includes Gwadar Port on the Arabian Sea, The 1,100km Karachi-Peshawar Motorway the Mainline One railway, and numerous other rail and related industrial projects.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in early October that BRICS plans to agree on a list of candidates for partner-state status ahead of the 2024 summit to be held in Kazan, Tatarstan in 2024. According to Ryabkov, during the Russian BRICS chairmanship, special attention will be paid to expanding the “circle of BRICS friends,” including in Latin America. Other candidate members includeIndonesia, Turkiye, and in the event of Argentina pulling out, possibly Venezuelaamong others. Were Pakistan to be offered membership of BRICS at next year’s Kazan summit, that would imply a January 1, 2025 actual joining date.