Belarus has officially become a partner of BRICS. This was reported by the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic.
The Foreign Ministry noted that on November 5 of this year, Alexander Lukashenko signed a letter addressed to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
The document confirmed Minsk’s readiness to become a partner of the above-mentioned association of countries.
BRICS partner
As reported by the press service , the letter was handed over to the Russian Ambassador to Belarus by the head of the republic’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maxim Ryzhenkov.
An official response to a written invitation is a mandatory element of the procedure agreed upon by member states for obtaining partner status, the statement said.
And then they noted: “from this moment on, the country is officially considered a BRICS partner.”
We also noted that in his message Lukashenko emphasized that since its founding, BRICS has been constantly strengthening multilateral cooperation.
He called the organization “one of the pillars of multipolarity,” noting that many countries around the world are seeking to join BRICS.
The Belarusian leader thanked the Russian President for his support, drawing attention to the fact that Minsk’s status as a partner of the organization is being formalized during Russia’s chairmanship.
Standards and criteria
Thus, Belarus confirmed its compliance with the necessary standards and criteria and agreed to follow the guiding principles of the BRICS partner countries model, the Foreign Ministry stated.
We noted that Minsk meets all the required standards and criteria, in particular Belarus:
– is a country with influence in the region and the world;
– has diplomatic relations with all BRICS states;
– did not join sanctions bypassing the UN Security Council;
– promotes peace and security at the international and regional levels;
– supports sustainable socio-economic development.
The ministry added: the status of a partner country, among other things, implies permanent participation in special sessions of BRICS summits and meetings of foreign ministers.
It is possible to invite partners to a number of other “ministerial level” events.
Partners can also join the final documents of BRICS, the Foreign Ministry summed up.
