Moscow to welcome Dhaka's candidature when BRICS expansion resumes: Lavrov
According to the top Russian diplomat, advantages from the BRICS membership are obvious.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov yesterday (8 June) said Russia will welcome Bangladesh as a candidate for the BRICS membership once the process resumes, stressing that advantages from the BRICS membership are obvious.
"As for BRICS, the ten members currently comprising the group have agreed to put the admission of new members on hold for the time being, because just two years ago the number of BRICS members doubled overnight, and we need a little time to adjust to the new lineup," he said after his bilateral talks with Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman in Moscow.
"But our stance on Bangladesh's candidature when this pause is over is as follows: we will welcome the candidature of this large and important Asian nation," Lavrov added.
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BRICS brings together eleven major emerging markets and developing countries of the world: Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and United Arab Emirates.
It serves as a useful platform for consultation and cooperation on contemporary issues having global as well as regional significance and issues of global political and economic governance.
According to the top Russian diplomat, advantages from the BRICS membership are obvious.
That is why "a big number of countries, more than the current number of BRICS members, want to join for these advantages," he said.
"We fully understand the aspirations of the applicants, including our friends from Bangladesh, who are already members and shareholders of the New Development Bank and are very pleased with such participation," said the Russian Foreign Minister.
Bangladesh and Russia have broad opportunities to scale up bilateral trade volumes, Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman said at a joint press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
He said they discussed the need for further expanding our ties in different fields; there is ample scope for substantially increasing our trade volumes in both ways.
"We discussed the ways in which we could accomplish this and will continue to have some of the ideas on the table, like the possibility of granting duty-and quota-free treatment, and to assist us to complete a preferential agreement with Eurasian Economic Union," Khalilur said.
The vast potential for cooperation exists also in the labor resources sphere, he added.
