Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Ali Sabry has stated that the country wishes to join BRICS this year. In an interview with news agency ANI, the Sri Lankan minister added that it has been keen to join the global bloc and plans on reaching out to India for assistance in its membership.

"We will look forward for BRICS. Also, I think the cabinet had appointed a sub-committee to look into that and recommend to us. We would like to see that because we would like to have multiple options. Who doesn't want to? So therefore BRICS is a good body, particularly since India is a part of it," Sabry told ANI.

Pakistan made a similar bid after the Johannesburg Summit. Islamabad filed for BRICS membership in late 2023 and is seeking Russia and China's support for its membership bid.

Of the 30 countries keen to join BRICS, a total of 15 countries have formally applied for membership. These are -

• Algeria

• Bahrain

• Bangladesh

• Belarus

• Bolivia

• Cuba

• Kazakhstan

• Kuwait

• Pakistan

• Palestine

• Senegal

• Thailand

• Venezuela

• Vietnam

• Nigeria

Sri Lanka is yet to apply formally for membership into BRICS. However, the country has stated that when to does apply, it would seek New Delhi's support for its membership bid into the bloc.

Along with Sri Lanka,  Afghanistan, Angola, Comoros, DR Congo, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Libya, Myanmar, Nicaragua, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Somalia, Uganda and Zimbabwe have expressed their interest to join the intergovernmental organisation.

Russia To Host BRICS 2024 In October

On January 1, 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin took over as the chair of BRICS from South African President Cyril Ramphosa. After his absence in the 2023 summit, Putin is preparing to host this year's summit in the Russian city of Kazan.

As of now, BRICS 2024 is scheduled to be held from October 22 to 24, 2024.

With Russia taking over as chair, Iran, Egypt. Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates joined Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa as members of BRICS. Argentina was also to join BRICS, however, after the election of President Javier Milei, the Latin American country withdrew its application.