Bangladesh did not make request for BRICS membership: PM Sheikh Hasina
Aug 29, 2023
Dhaka [Bangladesh], August 29 : Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday said that Dhaka had not made any request for membership of BRICS right now, Bangladesh-based Dhaka Tribune reported.
Sheikh Hasina said, "We didn’t go to tell anyone to make us a member (of BRICS) right now," Dhaka Tribune reported. She made the remarks while addressing a press conference at her official residence Ganabhaban on her recent visit to South Africa and her participation in the 15th BRICS Summit.
In response to a question about the BRICS membership, Hasina said that it is not right that when Bangladesh wants something, it will not get it, Dhaka Tribune reported. She participated in the BRICS Summit held in Johannesburg from August 22-24 at the invitation of South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa.
On August 24, the BRICS group of nations decided to include six new members - Argentina, Ethiopia, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The new membership will be effective from January 1, 2024.
Leaders from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) supported the expansion of the grouping, the first such expansion since 2010 when South Africa was inducted into the group.
South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa said that Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and UAE have been invited to join the BRICS as part of the first phase of expansion. With this expansion, six of the world's nine largest oil producers are now part of BRICS. Ramaphosa made the announcement while issuing the Johannesburg Declaration of the 15th BRICS Summit.
Cyril Ramaphosa, as chair of the Summit and BRICS, made the announcement in his opening statement and thereafter the President invited his counterparts and colleagues from the BRICS member states to also present their statements.
Ramaphosa said, "This summit reaffirmed the importance of BRICS, people-to-people exchanges & enhancing friendship & cooperation...We adopted the Johannesburg two declarations which reflect key BRICS messages on matters of global economic, financial and political importance. It demonstrates the shared values & common interests that underlie our mutually beneficial cooperation as the five BRICS countries..."
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "India has always believed that the inclusion of new members will strengthen BRICS as an organization and provide new impetus to our collective endeavours."
