Photo courtesy of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
MOSCOW, 11 June (BelTA) - Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Maksim Ryzhenkov revealed some details about how Belarus obtained a partner status in BRICS as he spoke with students at MGIMO University in Moscow on 10 June, BelTA has learned.
“We are satisfied with our partner status for now, because the higher the status, the greater the responsibilities. It took us a lot of efforts to achieve this status. In fact, I will reveal a very secret thing to you. Just a few weeks before this decision was made, Sergei Viktorovich [Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister] and I were in constant contact, either in person or by phone, regarding the support of some countries that, for some reason, were not very willing to see us there. BRICS comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, while Belarus is a rather small state. We are now among the partners, which I consider to be a great success for Belarusian diplomacy,” Maksim Ryzhenkov said.
“This gives us the opportunity to work through the entire range of industry-specific events that take place at the BRICS platform: from dialogue between industry ministers to the BRICS Foreign Ministers' Meeting, to participation in the activities of the BRICS Bank. There has recently been a parliamentary dimension, a youth forum. All of this is mutually enriching and provides an opportunity to establish contacts with big states that not only have political weight but also allow us to speak the same language with them. Our political opportunities are growing as a result,” he said.
“Therefore, we need to consolidate our position at this level and then look further ahead. I want to say that there is now a long queue of countries wanting to join the union as partners, but there is unlikely to be another expansion in the near future,” the Belarusian minister of foreign affairs said.
Follow us on:
