OREANDA-NEWS  The Russian side welcomes the submission by Egypt and Bangladesh of an application to join the BRICS; the issue of expanding the organization will be discussed at the upcoming summit this year, the Russian Foreign Ministry told RIA Novosti.

"We welcome the interest indicated by Bangladesh, Egypt and a number of other countries in increasing cooperation with BRICS," the ministry noted, commenting on the reports of the countries' applications.

"They have repeatedly participated in the "outreach"/"BRICS plus" segments within the framework of the "five" events. In particular, the heads of the foreign ministries of both these states were invited to the BRICS Council of Ministers in the format of "Friends of BRICS" (Cape Town, June 2, 2023.).

Both countries are shareholders of the New Development Bank," the Russian ministry recalled. They are sure that "the association would only benefit from strengthening cooperation with developing countries, many of which have unequivocally stated such an aspiration."

Answering the question about which other countries are planning to join, the Foreign Ministry pointed out that "with regard to the expansion of the BRICS, it is premature to talk about specific candidates before agreeing on all the modalities of this process."