There is a lot of BRICS-related activity going on at the Sept. 3-6 annual Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, including announcements about high-level participation at the Oct. 22-4 BRICS summit in Kazan, hosted by Russia. For example, the Malaysian Foreign Ministry issued a statement Sept. 3, reported by TASS, in which they announced that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim would attend the EEF as part of a “working visit to the Russian Federation on 4 and 5 September.… The Prime Minister is also scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting with President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.” Besides discussing economic cooperation, they will “explore collaboration in new areas such as aerospace and advanced technologies … [and] the Prime Minister will also reiterate Malaysia’s interest to join BRICS to President Putin.”
Türkiye has also requested to join the BRICS, but they also announced that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will attend the Kazan summit in person, Russian Presidential aide Yury Ushakov said Sept. 3. “The proposal was conveyed to the Turkish side, [and] Erdogan accepted it,” Ushakov told the Interfax news agency. Erdogan has attended previous BRICS summits, but not as an applicant for membership.
Bloomberg reported Sept. 2 that Türkiye had submitted its application to join the BRICS “some months ago,” partially driven by “rifts” between Türkiye and the rest of NATO over the Ukraine conflict. Middle East Eye quoted a Turkish official: “We don’t see BRICS as an alternative to NATO or the EU. However, the stalled accession process to the European Union encourages us to explore other economic platforms…. We would like to be part of every multilateral platform, even if there is only a slight chance of benefit to us,” the official explained.