BRICS has no plans to expand but set to maintain dialogue with other countries - expert

MOSCOW, June 29. /TASS/. The BRICS association of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa so far has no expansion plans but is ready to maintain dialogue with other countries, Georgy Toloraya, the executive director of the National Committee for BRICS Studies, told TASS on the occasion of a BRICS civil forum opening on Monday. "The BRICS has not yet taken a decision to expand, because first it has to put things straight inside the association, to shape its own structure. Apart from that, certain criteria are to be met to join the BRICS - these are big emerging countries with dynamically developing economies, which, as a matter of fact, are the centre of attraction for a certain region. There are not so many countries in the world that can meet these criteria," he said. The expert noted that that there were no plans to expand the association but it is clear that "it is necessary to establish relations with other countries." Thus, the outreach format provides for cooperation and dialogue with countries of the region, which hosts a regular BRICS summit. "In South Africa, it was countries of the African continent, in Brazil - Latin American countries, in Russia it means that entire Eurasia is involved in this process," Toloraya said. "It would be appropriate to introduce such formats as the dialogue partner of BRICS observer statuses, which can embrace many countries we are interested in," he added. Read more