HAVANA, Cuba, CMC—Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez says the Spanish-speaking Caribbean island is honored to join the intergovernmental organization – BRICS as a partner. The president commented on the 16th BRICS Summit, which concluded earlier this week in Kazan, Russia.
During the meeting, the alliance welcomed 13 countries to participate as partner countries.
Algeria, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam are the other countries joining as partners.
Cuban foreign minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla also underscored Cuba’s commitment to working with the members to construct a development and cooperation agenda that responds to the priorities of the South by being accepted as a partner country.
The three-day summit, which was attended by leaders or representatives of 36 countries, also highlighted the failure of United States-led efforts to isolate Russia over its actions in Ukraine.
The conflict came up repeatedly at the meeting, which saw United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s first visit to Russia in more than two years and drew an angry reaction from Kyiv.
Guterres called for “just peace” in Ukraine through the U.N. Charter, international law, and General Assembly resolutions. He also urged an immediate end to the fighting in Gaza, Lebanon, and Sudan.
The summit also covered deepening financial cooperation, including the development of alternatives to Western-dominated payment systems, efforts to settle regional conflicts, and expansion of the BRICS group of nations.
When founded in 2009, the alliance initially included Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Since then, it has expanded to embrace Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia. Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Malaysia have formally applied to become members, and several other countries have expressed interest in joining.
The Kremlin touted the summit as “the largest foreign policy event ever held” by Russia.
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