NEW DELHI: 34 countries have officially applied for BRICS membership. The 10 new members and 10 partners will be announced in the upcoming BRICS Summit in Kazan to be held between October 22 and October 24. Strife-torn nations like Palestine, Syria and Myanmar have also applied for the membership. The announcement will be made after arriving at a consensus.Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the Summit turning it to be his second visit to Russia within a span of three months. Strife-torn nations like Palestine, Syria and Myanmar have also applied for membership.He is also likely to have bilateral meetings with leaders of other members. Presently, requests have been made by Turkey and Thailand. However, Speculations are rife that PM Modi will have a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the summit.”There are nearly 34 countries who have communicated to BRICS for being considered as new members. These include Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Honduras, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Morocco, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Senegal, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, State of Palestine, Syria, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam and Zimbabwe,’’ according to sources.”The ten partners to be announced will not have rights like permanent members but in all likelihood will become permanent members by the next Summit,’’ it added.The source added that there was a speculation that Columbia wanted it to be considered but there has been no official communication from it.The ten current members of the BRICS are Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Eqypt, Ethiopia, Iran, UAE and Saudi Arabia.Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is expected to be present, which will be his first visit to Russia since he assumed office. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is attending the Summit. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will be attending the Summit as well.Meanwhile, Kremlin has said that leaders from nearly 24 nations are likely to take part in the upcoming Summit.
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