HAVANA, Oct. 7 - "Cuba has already sent an official request to become a BRICS partner," Russian Ambassador to Havana Viktor Coronelli told a TASS correspondent. "Syria has applied to join BRICS," He told on Saturday the country's ambassador to Russia, Bashar Jaafari.
"Cuba has expressed interest in joining BRICS," Coronelli pointed out. "In addition, it has already submitted an official request to the Russian side for partner status, as Russia holds the BRICS chairmanship this year. The Cubans are interested and the relevant request has been formalised," stressed the diplomat.
He also confirmed that Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel had received an invitation to attend the BRICS Plus/Outreach meeting to be held on the sidelines of the Summit. "The Cuban president has received an invitation and we expect him to visit Kazan on 22-24 October," Coronelli said.
The Russian Ambassador in Havana recalled that this year Cuban representatives had participated in a number of events organised by BRICS in an expanded format. "In our view, they are interested in almost all areas of BRICS activity," he stressed. "And we have to wait for a decision on the granting of partnership status to see where they will participate more or less actively," the diplomat concluded.
"We are very interested in joining BRICS. We have sent written applications to join the organisation," Jaafari told the TASS news agency on the sidelines of the North Caucasus conference: New Geostrategic Opportunities.
BRICS has undergone two waves of expansion since its establishment in 2006. In 2011, South Africa joined the original members Brazil, Russia, India and China. In August 2023, six more countries were invited to join - Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Argentina declined to join in late December, but the other countries became full members on January 1, 2024. Russia holds the group's rotating presidency this year and will host the BRICS summit in Kazan on October 22-24.
TASS/ gnews.cz - HeK, RoZ
ILLUSTRATIVE PHOTO - pixabay
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