Bangladesh expects to be BRICS member in second phase

Bangladesh, which failed to become a member of the BRICS grouping in the just concluded Johannesburg summit, is expected to be included in the next phase.

The South African President in his speech at the summit mentioned clearly that in the first phase, six countries are given membership and others will be included in the next phases, and we are expecting to be included in the second phase,” Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen said this on Sunday.

He also noted that the exclusion would also give Bangladesh the time to assess the pros and cons of joining the grouping.

Mr Masud, who attended the Summit, also noted that political and regional issues might be instrumental in the exclusion of Bangladesh, which was an aspirant for the membership of BRICS, seen as an emerging and influential platform.

“Maybe there is a question of maintaining balance among the regions. For example, picking countries from Africa, North Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East they want to maintain a geographical balance. There are other aspirants like us in our region but they also excluded this time,” he explained.

However, the foreign secretary observed that Bangladesh is getting the real benefit of the BRICS by becoming a member of the New Development Bank, sponsored by it.

According to him, the real and tangible benefit of becoming a BRICS member is to get access to its funds.

Since Bangladesh is already a member of this Bank, we are getting that benefit from this platform, he pointed out.

“You see that in the last 15 years since its inception, BRICS bank is the only tangible outcome of the grouping and since we are the member of this bank, there is nothing to get upset," he argued.

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