South Africa's Sherpa to BRICS: 34 more countries express interest in joining bloc of major emerging economies

South Africa's Sherpa to BRICS Anil Sooklal said Russia was already accepting applications to join the grouping after becoming the group's chair this year.

At the Johannesburg Summit last year, a declaration was issued for foreign ministers to look at the issue of partner country membership as per the leaders’ directives.

Russia has thus become the first state to oversee BRICS since it significantly expanded its global presence earlier this year. This is reported by Pretoria News, a partner of TV BRICS.

"The expressions of interest have come from other African countries and from the developing world," Sooklal stated.

Anil Sooklal said there is no final decision yet on how many new countries will join the bloc.

At last year's summit, it was agreed that finance ministers or central bank governors of BRICS countries should be tasked to consider local currencies, payment instruments and platforms and report back to BRICS leaders by the next summit.