PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia hopes to be considered for inclusion at the partner level first in the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) group, said Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan.
He said this was among the matters raised during a two-hour meeting with his Brazilian counterpart Mauro Vieira, who is currently on a two-day official visit to Malaysia.
"At the moment, the BRICS has even got a new member this year. They have to take care of this new member first, and they have a system like Asean, (where) we have dialogue partners.
"There will be BRICS partner. They see this, (and) if Malaysia is also considered (joining BRICS), we will enter at the partner level first. That is enough for us to have a relationship between Malaysia and BRICS," he said.
He said this to reporters after Vieira's courtesy call on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, which lasted nearly an hour at the Seri Perdana Complex here today.
Mohamad said he also brought up Malaysia's letter expressing its interest in joining the BRICS group to Vieira.
"Next year, Brazil will hold the presidency for BRICS, and we hope that the invitation from Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to our Prime Minister for Malaysia to join BRICS will be realised," he said.
BRICS was established in 2009 as a platform for cooperation among rapidly developing economies, comprising Brazil, Russia, India, and China, with South Africa joining in 2010.In January 2024, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were accepted as new members.
On June 18, Anwar confirmed that he had expressed Malaysia's interest in joining BRICS to the President of Brazil.
Meanwhile, Mohamad said Malaysia wants to further enhance bilateral relations with Brazil, covering various aspects including education, agriculture, and trade.
"In terms of education, we will also explore how we can arrange student exchanges and also exchange of teaching staff between Brazil and Malaysia. There are many things we need to work on.
"They are very strong in research, their research is excellent, they have many scientists, and we want to explore this further so that Malaysia can learn a lot from their expertise," he said.
– Bernama