Sri Lanka (Commonwealth) _ According to the government spokesman, Sri Lanka’s desire to join the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) has been approved, but the group’s current membership has denied its application to join BRICS.
The NDB is a multilateral development bank that was founded in 2015 by the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) with the goal of mobilizing funds for sustainable development and infrastructure projects in the BRICS and other emerging markets and developing nations (EMDCs).
Last month, when Foreign Secretary Aruni Wijewardena led Sri Lanka’s delegation to the BRICS meeting in Russia, the country submitted an application to join the group.
In recent years, the economic and political bloc known as BRICS has become more and more significant. It presents a number of possible threats to American dominance in the world and the dollar’s pivotal role in global trade and finance.
Nine nations are currently members of the BRICS alliance. At the BRICS meeting, Sri Lanka submitted an application to become a member. However, Herath informed reporters during the weekly post-Cabinet media briefing on Wednesday (06) in Colombo that the nine member nations have decided not to consider any new membership this time.
Only near the October summit did we submit an application for membership. We also sought support from the foreign ministers of other nations. Those nations supported us as well. “But we won’t have that opportunity when the summit decided not to expand membership,” he said.
However, we submitted an application to join the NDB Bank, which is a part of BRICS. We have a chance to put that into practice. The government of Sri Lanka should make the decision. “In the future, we will make a decision at the Cabinet,” Herath stated.
This permission has been forwarded to the Finance Ministry. The Finance Ministry will make this decision based on its evaluation. Such nations exist. Bangladesh, for example, does not belong to the BRICS. However, Bangladesh is a member of the NDB Bank. In a similar vein, our nation is attempting to become a member. We will talk about this in order to obtain the Finance Ministry’s consent.
Reducing their reliance on the US dollar in global trade has been one of the main objectives of BRICS. In order to lessen their exposure to dollar volatility and sanctions imposed by the United States, member governments have been investigating the use of local currencies in trade settlements.
The NDB was created by the BRICS countries to provide an alternative funding source for development and infrastructure projects, which have historically been dominated by Western-led organizations such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
By offering these substitutes, the BRICS nations contest the Western and American hegemony in international banking. Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates make up the intergovernmental organization known as BRICS. BRICS initially emerged to highlight potential investment opportunities.
Since 2009, the club has developed into a geopolitical bloc, with member nations holding yearly official summits and coordinating multilateral policy. The three primary tenets of BRICS relations are equality, mutual benefit, and non-interference.
Under the moniker BRIC, the founding nations of Brazil, Russia, India, and China met for the first time as leaders in Russia in 2009. After the organization was renamed, South Africa joined in 2010 and went to its first summit as a member in 2011. At the 2024 summit in Russia, countries such as Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates participated in their first summit as members.
Saudi Arabia received an invitation to join BRICS on January 1, 2024, and they are currently considering it. Together, the BRICS nations make up over 45% of the world’s population and 30% of its land area. The largest economy in Africa is that of South Africa, while the ten largest nations in the world by population, area, and nominal GDP as well as purchasing power parity are Brazil, India, and China.
In the most recent fiscal year, Russia’s economy was the largest in Europe. With a combined nominal GDP of US$28 trillion, or roughly 27% of the global gross domestic product, and a total GDP (PPP) of about US$65 trillion, or 35% of the global GDP PPP, the five original member states are all G20 members with total foreign holdings of an anticipated US$5.2 trillion (as of 2024).
The world’s most developed economies, known as the G7 bloc, view the BRICS nations as their primary geopolitical rivals. Yet, BRICS has been praised and criticized by many commentators.
