Three new countries added to BRICS partner members: Countries joining Turkey's group

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced the world's strongest economies at the beginning of this year. In the ranking based on nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) values, Japan entered a recession and fell to fourth place behind the USA, China, and Germany. Turkey ranked 17th on the list of the top twenty.

While Indonesia, which was made a partner member of BRICS, ranked 16th, Malaysia and Thailand, which are in the same group as us, did not make it into the top twenty in the list published this year.

While how long Malaysia will wait in this section remains a matter of curiosity for now, it was alleged that India voted against our full membership in BRICS, but these reports were subsequently denied by India.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandr Pankin stated in his speech at the joint meeting of foreign and trade ministers of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) countries that Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand have become BRICS partner countries.

Pankin said, “The BRICS summit in Kazan demonstrated the desire of the world majority to establish a fair world order, reform global institutions, and build egalitarian economic ties. An important package of agreements was signed in the fields of trade, investment, artificial intelligence, energy, climate, and logistics. Our partners in APEC, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand, have become partners of BRICS.”

TURKEY'S MEMBERSHIP PROCESS

Turkey officially submitted its application for full membership to BRICS in September 2024. This application was evaluated at the 16th BRICS Summit held in Kazan, Russia, on October 22-24, 2024.

As a result of the summit, Turkey was offered "partner country" status. Unlike full membership, this status covers countries that develop strategic, economic, or political cooperation with BRICS. Minister of Trade Ömer Bolat confirmed this offer and stated that Turkey's relations with BRICS would proceed with partner membership status.

Bolat stated, "BRICS is a cooperation organization that includes important countries that make up 25 percent of the world's national income. BRICS resembles an east-west polarization. Its popularity is increasing. As for Turkey's status regarding membership, Turkey was offered partner membership. This is BRICS's transition process. Joining BRICS brings an important gain to Turkey in terms of cooperating with all the important platforms of the world."

WHAT IS BRICS AND WHO ARE ITS MEMBERS?

BRICS is an economic cooperation group formed by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Recently, different types of membership and new participations have come to the agenda as part of the BRICS expansion process.

Membership Types:

Full Membership: Covers the founding members of BRICS and countries subsequently accepted as full members.

Partner Membership (Partner Country): Unlike full membership, countries with this status can participate in BRICS events and cooperation projects but do not have all the rights that full members possess.

CURRENT MEMBERSHIP STATUS

Full Members:

Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, United Arab Emirates

Partner Members (Partner Countries):

Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Turkey, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Algeria, Cuba, Bolivia, Nigeria, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Vietnam

This classification reflects BRICS's strategy of cooperating with different countries at various levels during its expansion process. While partner membership status allows countries to establish closer economic and political relations with BRICS, it contains some limitations compared to full membership.

News Source: 12punto