Malaysia has opportunity to increase trade, bilateral relations as partner country of BRICS - Fahmi

PUTRAJAYA: The selection of Malaysia as a BRICS partner country opens up opportunities to increase trade and bilateral relations with countries in the bloc, said Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil.

He said Malaysia welcomed the acceptance of Malaysia as one of the BRICS partner countries. “... we did not discuss specifically (in the Cabinet meeting). This is a preliminary notification and has not yet been discussed in depth. But we welcome Malaysia’s acceptance as one of the partner countries in the BRICS context,“ he said in a press conference after the Cabinet meeting here today.

Malaysia has been recognised as one of the 13 countries officially listed as a partner country in BRICS, a bloc that collectively accounts for a fifth of global trade.

Apart from Malaysia, the other 12 countries are Algeria, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

For the record, on July 28, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim confirmed that Malaysia had submitted an application to Russia to join the BRICS intergovernmental organisation.

This bloc represents about 40 per cent of the global population and cumulatively contributes to a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of US$26.6 trillion (RM115.4 trillion) or 26.2 per cent of world GDP, almost equaling the economic strength of the G7.