BRICS Candidacy: Pakistan Hopes for Joining the Bloc

BRICS (Brazil, Russia India, China & South Africa) is an intergovernmental political and economic alliance, established in 2009. The organization has expanded its members by including Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the UAE. (Saudi Arabia was also expected to join by January 01, 2024, but her membership is delayed). However, Pakistan too applied for its membership in November 2023 and against this backdrop, Senator Mushahid Hussain visited Russia at the invitation of the ruling United Russia Party because currently, Russia is currently the Chair of BRICS. Therefore, this document provides insight of the prospects of joining this block.

Last year, in August 2023 the BRICS Summit was held in Johannesburg, and in an historic move, Pakistan received an invitation to attend this, resultantly, Senator Mushahid Hussain (Chairman of the Senate Committee on Defense) addressed the Summit (Attached as Annexure A). Pakistan’s participation was encouraged by China, who wanted to include us into the alliance, however countries’ previous response on BRICS expansion is provided in detail. (Attached as Annexure B)

This time the Chair of BRICS is Russia that’s why Pakistan is optimistic about joining the bloc as we have growing bilateral relations with Russia in the fields of energy, trade, security etc. This Summit will be focusing on a fair world order instead of a rule based order.

According to media reports, for the first time, Indian Prime Minister Modi has talked about BRICS expansion (Attached as Annexure C) and statements from the Indian Ministry of External Affairs mentions Indian position, including its support for expansion.

Although, there are 15 standards for joining this bloc, only important ones are mentioned: – Should have diplomatic and friendly relations with all BRICS members. Should not impose sanctions on the existing BRICS member states except for the UNSC authorized sanctions. Should support comprehensive reforms in UN, with a view to making UNSC more democratic so that the representation of developing countries could be increased. Should have strong economic standing. Should have substantial trade relations with BRICS members.

BRICS employs the following terms for expansion: – an interested country, a prospective BRICS member state, invited BRICS member state and BRICS member state. A country is considered interested when its Leaders or Foreign Ministers formally communicate the interest in becoming the member. The BRICS chair will then circulate the request to all the members. The agreed guiding principles, standards etc will be shared with the interested state. BRICS Sherpas (Selected group of leaders representing their countries within the bloc) will consider the interested country in line with guiding principles and criteria and a recommendation for consideration by the BRICS Foreign Ministers shall be made. If Sherpas recommends it positively then the interested country becomes the prospective member state. Now the BRICS Foreign Ministers will recommend the prospective member State to BRICS Leaders for consideration. Then the BRICS Leaders will decide on the basis of consensus. Once the BRICS Chair announces the consensus of BRICS Leaders, the prospective member state will become the invited member state. An invited BRICS member state becomes a BRICS member state when its Leader or Foreign Minister formally conveys to the BRICS Chair its decision to accept the invitation for BRICS membership.

As the membership of BRICS is subject to the consensus of all the member states, there is strong possibility of India blocking our way. Because in 2022, New Delhi did the same when China invited various non-member states to the virtual dialogue. Therefore, India might not support Pakistan’s membership since BRICS requires a unanimous decision.  Having said that, Pakistan may apply for Partner State Status, in case India blocks our membership. This status was created in 2023 to expand the BRICS horizon. In this context quoting Pakistan’s Former Ambassador to China Masood Khalid: “There are hurdles in the way of Pakistan joining, including Islamabad’s current economic challenges. China may help in due course if our economic situation improves and we get the support of some other members like Russia and other aspiring countries, though India would certainly oppose Pakistan’s membership, just as Islamabad had blocked New Delhi from joining the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)”.[1] However, BRICS may reduce the dollar dominance, in near future, because the countries are contemplating to use BRICS currency for making payments in international trade and commerce. As BRICS has its own financial institution (New Development Bank) which majorly finances infrastructure and development projects in member countries. Thus, this would help Pakistan to strengthen its economy by engaging in trade and investments with other member States as the BRICS countries represent 29% of the world’s GDP. (Ref Statista 2023) Being member of an intergovernmental politico-economic alliance would enhance Pakistan’s diplomatic influence at international fora.

Annexure A

TWEETS OF SENATOR MUSHAHID HUSSAIN

[1] ‘Pakistan’s Economic Problems a Hurdle to Joining BRICS’, (24 August, 2023) accessed 04 March 2024

Annexure B

BRICS COUNTRIES RESPONSE ON PAKISTAN’S MEMBERSHIP

Annexure C

PM NARENDRA MODI’S RESPONSE ON BRICS EXPANSION