Azerbaijan applies for joining BRICS; Summit to be held in Russia

BAKU: Azerbaijan has submitted an application to join the BRICS association of countries, according to an official statement.

“Azerbaijan has submitted an official application to join BRICS,” it said.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry confirmed.

Azerbaijan had officially voiced its desire to join BRICS at a Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Astana on July 3.

The membership has been backed by Russian leaders and emphasizes Azerbaijan’s goal of strengthening ties with China following the China-Azerbaijan joint strategic partnership declaration in July.

The increased importance of the South Caucasus region and Azerbaijan’s potential membership in BRICS places it in a position to maintain ties with Russia and China while building relations with the West.

Economic opportunities such as the Middle Corridor and the International North–South Transportation Corridor pursued in conjunction with other BRICS member states would allow Baku to reduce its economic dependency on oil and gas exports.

Azerbaijan has joined a list of more than 30 countries seeking membership in the bloc (Report.az, September 18).

Most notably for Baku, Türkiye, Azerbaijan’s closest security ally, has also expressed interest in joining (Middle East Eye, September 12).

While the declaration of intent is significant in terms of these countries’ foreign policy orientations and merits closer scrutiny, full

membership is not expected in the near future.

To that point, the agenda for the upcoming BRICS summit, to be held in Kazan, Russia, from October 22–24, does not appear to include this issue.

Both Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, among other leaders, plan to be in attendance for the summit.

“By the overwhelming majority, the ten nations decided to ‘take a pause’ with new members to ‘take in’ the new members who have doubled the association,” said Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in June (TASS, June 15).

According to the agreement among the member states during the summit in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2023, the bloc is establishing a new category of “partner states.”

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov mentioned this in the context of Azerbaijan’s application, implying that Baku

would receive “partner state” status in the near future, with full membership coming at a future point (Azertag.az, August 30).