Kazakhstan has no plans to join BRICS in the foreseeable future, Berik Uali, Advisor and Press Secretary of Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, told Tengrinews.kz.
Founded in 2006, BRICS is an informal group of states originally comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates have joined BRICS as new full members.
BRICS will hold its summit in Kazan, Russia on October 23-24, and President Tokayev has been invited to the forum as a guest.
According to Uali, Tokayev received proposals on his country’s accession to BRICS, but Kazakhstan will most likely refrain from submitting an application to BRICS in the foreseeable future, taking into account the multi-stage process of considering the issue of membership, as well as other issues related to the development prospects of this association.
In a report by Tengrinews.kz, political observer Gaziz Abishev explains why Kazakhstan does not plan to join BRICS.
According to Abishev, in the near future, Kazakhstan, being a partner of BRICS, is unlikely to join this organization because there is no urgent need for this.
“Kazakhstan has close relations with Russia, supported by strategic relations, and is a member of the CIS, CSTO and EAEU. Kazakhstan also has very close relations with China, both in the economic sphere (Belt and Road) and in the sphere of defense and security. Together with other BRICS members – Russia, China, India, Iran – Kazakhstan forms the Shanghai Cooperation Organization,” Abishev wrote on his Telegram channel.
Kazakhstan does not have any lack of cooperation with the main BRICS players, Abishev emphasizes. Whatever decisions and initiatives are made within BRICS, they are inevitably transmitted to other platforms and into bilateral relations.
“Secondly, BRICS is in some way positioned as a counterweight to the collective West. In this sense, Kazakhstan’s accession would raise a number of additional questions about its peace-loving multi-vector policy,” the political observer added.
Thirdly, says Abishev, Kazakhstan is committed to the UN Charter, supports the exclusive role of this organization and promotes the idea that it should be a priority platform for resolving international problems.
“There is no hostility towards BRICS in Kazakhstan, quite the opposite. But joining this organization means either actively participating in its projects to form alternative world systems, or being a barrier to their development. Neither one nor the other is of interest to Kazakhstan at this stage,” Abishev concluded.
Photo: infobrics.org
