Will India Let Pakistan Join BRICS?

Written by Allan Millward | December 3, 2023

---

In an interview with the Russian state-owned news agency TASS, Pakistan’s designated envoy to Russia, Muhammad Khalid Jamali, stated that Pakistan had formally applied to join BRICS. “Pakistan would like to be part of this important organization and we are in process of contacting member countries for extending support to Pakistan’s membership in general and Russian Federation, in particular,” he explained. BRICS, short for its five founding member states Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, is an intergovernmental organization focused on economic cooperation that is fast gaining the status of the new ‘voice of the Global South.’ At the 2023 BRICS Summit in Johannesburg South Africa, the country’s President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that BRICS had decided to expand to include six new members. These were Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Argentina whose President-elect Javier Milei has indicated he will withdraw their application. 40 countries had shown interest in joining at the 2023 summit, suggesting that BRICS popularity and its membership roster will only continue to grow. BRICS has also spoken more forcefully on political matters with the group near-unanimously calling for a ceasefire in Gaza at a recent virtual meeting.

The spokesperson for Pakistan’s foreign ministry, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, confirmed that Pakistan has made a “formal request to join BRICS. “We believe that by joining BRICS, Pakistan can play an important role in furthering international cooperation and revitalising inclusive multilateralism. We also hope that BRICS will move forward on Pakistan’s request in line with its commitment to inclusive multilateralism,” Baloch explained. She went on to add that Pakistan had warm relations with “most” BRICS members. Unsurprisingly, the BRICS member that Pakistan does not share warm relations with is India and their difficult history could hinder Pakistan’s efforts to join BRICS. Pakistan’s foreign ministry pointed out that last year their participation in a major policy dialogue event on the sidelines of the BRICS summit was blocked by “one member.” While the ministry did not state the member was India directly, it did express hope that future engagement would be based on “inclusivity.” The political debate among the founding members regarding expansion is already fierce and will likely be more so with Pakistan. As the foreign policy analyst Muhammad Faisal points out, “Pakistan’s case is particularly beset by Indian opposition, which could depend on the health of the India-China relationship.”