Sri Lanka set to officially apply for BRICS membership

Sri Lanka is set to officially apply for BRICS membership during the association’s upcoming summit in Kazan, according to Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath.

The minister stated that Sri Lanka has already asked its members to support its bid, News.Az reports, citing TASS.

"Sri Lanka has decided to file an application to join BRICS and the [BRICS] New Development Bank. I have already issued letters to my counterparts in the BRICS member nations asking them for support," the ministry quoted him as saying.

According to the top Lankan diplomat, neither he nor the country’s new president, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, will be able to attend the BRICS summit in Kazan because of the upcoming parliamentary elections in the country. "Sri Lanka will be represented by a deputy foreign minister, who will officially lodge an application for membership," Herath said without disclosing the official’s name.

Lankan media said however that the country would be represented by First Deputy Foreign Minister Aruni Wijewardane.

"We view BRICS as an association for efficient partnership in the interests of the implementation of mutually beneficial cooperation, peace and development through encouraging comprehensive multipolarity within the UN Charter," Herath stressed.

On October 1, Russian Ambassador to Colombo Levan Dzhagaryan handed over to Sri Lanka’s newly elected president, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, an invitation to the BRICS summit in Kazan.

News.Az