The final-day decision to expand the BRICS group at its three-day South Africa summit and admit six countries as new members from the beginning of the next year has surprised many in Dhaka as Bangladesh is not on the list.
The grouping of five major emerging economies – China, Brazil, South Africa, Russia, and India – agreed on “the guiding principles, standards, criteria and procedures of the BRICS expansion process” before endorsing Saudi Arabia, Iran, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Ethiopia and Argentina as new members.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s participation in the summit events in Johannesburg generated much interest in Bangladesh since June when the host South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa invited her during a meeting in Geneva.
After that meeting, there were reports that Bangladesh was going to be a member of the bloc if expanded.
Bangladesh also applied formally for the membership, a decision that analysts argued was a gesture to offset Washington’s pressure on the upcoming general election. BRICS is being seen as a counterweight to Western powers.
What happened?
International relations expert Prof Dr Imtiaz Ahmed suggests three reasons why Bangladesh did not make it to the list.
"For the first time, BRICS set criteria to take new members. We need to see that criteria whether we match or not. Second, there were issues of consensus in inducting new members. If we don’t match with the criteria, then it’ll not come to the table,” he told Dhaka Tribune.
“But another aspect, I think Bangladesh also took a go-slow strategy at the moment. It’s maybe because of the upcoming general elections,” he said, indicating that the government did not want to give any message to the West by joining the bloc.
“But I think the presence of our prime minister there at the summit events means that we'll have good relations with the BRICS. That's important. When we have good relations, we will get the benefits of the BRICS process. We are already a member of the BRICS bank,” he said.
“I think Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping was more important than anything else,” Prof Shahab Enam Khan of the international relations department of the Jahangirnagar University told Dhaka Tribune.
“President Xi has expressed China's commitment to facilitate a permanent solution to the Rohingya crisis which is increasingly becoming a regional crisis. Both countries are committed to keeping the region stable and further strengthening the trade ties
“However, it was well anticipated that Bangladesh's membership to BRICS would be delayed despite China's strong support. Amid all the geopolitical equations within BRICS, Bangladesh-China strategic relations have become further stronger as a result of this meeting,” said Prof Khan.
A senior official at the foreign ministry told Dhaka Tribune that they were not expecting Bangladesh’s membership this time.
“We have applied after the June meeting of our prime minister. Those who became members were in the process for long. This is the first phase of expansion. And it’s good that the expansion happened despite the initial division of opinions among the members. Now this will open the opportunity for us to be a member in future,” the official told Dhaka Tribune, requesting anonymity.
This expansion decision is part of the BRICS plan to build dominance and reshape global governance into a “multipolar” world order that puts the voices of the Global South at the centre of the world agenda.
“This membership expansion is historic,” said Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“The expansion is also a new starting point for BRICS cooperation. It will bring new vigour to the BRICS cooperation mechanism and further strengthen the force for world peace and development,” he said after the decision.
More than 40 countries had expressed interest in joining BRICS, of them 23 formally applied to join the bloc, which together account for about a quarter of the global economy and 41.9% of the world’s population.
A foreign ministry official, talking to Dhaka Tribune, indicated that they would issue a statement on BRICS soon.
