Sri Lankan President Anura Dissanayake has expressed his country's interest in joining BRICS in a letter to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, the republic's ambassador to Moscow Pakir Amsa told RIA Novosti.
“Sri Lanka has expressed its interest in joining the BRICS family in a letter to President Vladimir Putin from President Anura Dissanayake. We have also approached other BRICS countries to join as a partner country and we await their positive response,“ he said. Dissanayake sent the letter to Putin in October, the ambassador said.
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Wijitha Herath announced the same month that the country had decided to apply for membership in BRICS and the New Development Bank. According to him, Colombo sees this association as an effective partnership to realize the aspiration for mutually beneficial cooperation, peace and development by strengthening comprehensive multilateralism within the framework of the UN Charter.
Initially, BRICS included Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, but this year the number of participants in the association doubled, with the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia becoming full members. In addition, more than 20 countries have expressed a desire to join the bloc. Thus, BRICS now unites ten countries with a population of 3.6 billion people - almost half of the total world population. These countries account for more than 40 percent of world oil production and about a quarter of world merchandise exports.