CHINA BACKS KAZAKHSTAN'S BID TO JOIN BRICS

ASTANA (Kazakhstan), July 4 (Bernama) -- China on Wednesday expressed its support for Kazakhstan joining the BRICS group.

This announcement was made in a joint statement issued after a meeting between President Xi Jinping and Kazakhstan President Kassym Jomart Tokayev.

According to the statement, Xi said China supports Kazakhstan’s accession to BRICS as one of the Middle Powers to play a growing role and contribute to global affairs and management.

“China supports Kazakhstan in joining the BRICS group.

“The BRICS group includes the most prominent emerging economies, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa and since the beginning of the year also Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates,” he said.

Meanwhile, Kazakhstan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Roman Vassilenko when met by reporters on Thursday, said the country's decision to apply for BRICS membership does not mean it is supporting a specific bloc.

"For us, if there is this platform of cooperation then we would like to be part of that.

“In the past, our president was invited to attend some of the BRICS plus meetings. Generally, this is one dimension of our foreign policy to develop these relations with Russia, China and India.

“They are all BRICS members as is South Africa, of course. But for us, this is part of the vision to overall reach out to all partners including the West," he said.

-- BERNAMA