KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has studied all the implications and possibilities before expressing its intention to join BRICS, says Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
The Prime Minister said the current priority was strengthening trade and the economy, as well as expanding the country's economic network to benefit the country and the people, particularly traders, the business sector, and investors.
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"So that is why we studied and reviewed it. And I agree with Seri Aman (Datuk Seri Doris Sophia Brodi - GPS), it took us some time to study all the possibilities and implications.
"We found that countries within the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) are also in BRICS, while countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) are also in BRICS.
"So, there is no reason for Malaysia to be excluded from such considerations," he said in reply to a supplementary question from Doris (GPS-Seri Aman) during Minister's Question Time on Tuesday (July 9).
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Doris had asked the Prime Minister whether any studies were conducted following the intention to join BRICS, as some countries within the grouping have different political, economic, and social backgrounds.
BRICS was established in 2009 as a cooperation platform for emerging economies comprising Brazil, Russia, India and China with South Africa joining the group in 2010.
It was formed to foster economic, political and cultural cooperation among its members.
In Jan 2024, the countries such as Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) joined the organisation as new members.
Anwar, who is also the Finance Minister, said Malaysia is a trading nation and needs to expand its economic network to help the people and the country grow in terms of investments and trade.
"Aside from existing relations and cooperation, there are benefits for us to open new spaces, especially in terms of the Global South agenda.
"It shows the preparedness of countries to defend the interests of their own countries and not be bound by a single economic power," added Anwar.
He assured that Malaysia would continue to strengthen its ties with Apec, as well as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), encompassing fifteen economies across Asia and the Pacific, and The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), a trade agreement between Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam.
"And this will create new pathways or strengthen the existing ones."
At the same time, Anwar explained that Malaysia's intention to join the BRICS was not to interfere in the domestic and political affairs of the countries involved.
Despite Malaysia's relationship with foreign countries including Western countries and those involved in the Apec, Malaysia also have differing views on certain matters such as on the issue of Gaza.
"In fact, we have major disagreements and differences on the Gaza issue, for example, the issues of developing countries, the issues of trade competition in the World Trade Organisation (WTO), but that does not cause us to cut ties, especially when the priority is trade," Anwar further debated.
The government, he added, was confident that Malaysia's participation in BRICS will benefit the country as the GDP of the bloc reached US$26.6 trillion, which is 26.2% of the world's Growth Domestic Product (GDP).
