Take away the category: all ASEAN members are welcome as partners in BRICS

BRICS is waiting for all ASEAN members as partner states, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko told Izvestia. However, everything depends on the position of the authorities of these countries, the diplomat noted. While the expansion by joining full members has been put on pause, it is the partner countries that can provide new advantages to the association. Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam have already received this status this year. Laos and Myanmar want to join the BRICS, and the pro-American Philippines are also looking at it. However, too many participants can blur the agenda and lead to a mismatch of interests. What ASEAN is capable of giving BRICS and who might be against it is in the Izvestia article.

ASEAN is expected in BRICS

The BRICS countries are waiting for ASEAN as partners. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko admitted that in the future all the member states of the association may join the association in one format or another.

— It all depends on the ASEAN countries. If they want to, please. The door is open for them as dialogue partners, if there is such an opportunity. But not everyone wants to, not everyone is ready," the diplomat said.

It is worth noting that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations is already partially present in BRICS, and in two categories at once. In 2025, Indonesia officially became a full member of the association, thus turning it into a "top ten". Malaysia, Thailand and later Vietnam joined the group of partner States.

At the same time, earlier in the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, which will soon transfer the presidency to India, told Izvestia that there are no plans to expand among the members this year. They explained that the large number of participants created institutional problems. In particular, there are too many events that sometimes duplicate each other, and there is no single register of documents and initiatives. Therefore, for now, BRICS will focus on adapting new participants and fully integrating them into its work processes. It is unlikely that India will be able to solve all these nuances, given that the association has doubled in size in just a year.

That is why the prospects for expansion are more likely in the category of partner countries. Laos is showing the greatest interest among the remaining ASEAN countries. At the Kazan summit in October 2024, the President of the Republic, Thonglong Sisulit, expressed the country's desire to join the BRICS, although there is still no talk of an official application, despite loud statements. A year later, Vientiane continues to study this issue, the government noted. At the same time, Prime Minister Songsai Siphandon admitted that BRICS is of great importance for the entire region and shows significant results in economic development.

Myanmar, whose neighbors are two founding members of the BRICS, namely China and India, does not tire of confirming its interest. The Foreign Ministry rightly noted that the country is located in a very promising place from a geo-economic point of view. And cooperation is already underway. They are preparing to open a regional office of the BRICS Women's Business Alliance (WBA) in Naypyidaw as part of an agreement between the organization and the wife of Myanmar's Prime Minister Zhu Zhu Hla. This will provide a barrier-free environment for women's entrepreneurship, and in the future will create conditions for mutual trade.

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Negotiations are underway to open similar offices in Malaysia and Cambodia. Phnom Penh, however, is showing slightly less zeal than its ASEAN partners. They do not plan to join BRICS yet, but they are definitely interested in cooperating with the association against the background of a difficult international situation.

— For Cambodia, participation in the unification is a strategic step towards diversifying foreign policy and economic ties, allowing it to reduce its traditional dependence on major powers and the West as a whole. In particular, Cambodia sees BRICS as an opportunity to attract investments in infrastructure and technology, as well as strengthen its position in the region, following the example of its neighbors," Elena Burova, senior researcher at the Center for Vietnam and ASEAN Studies at the ICSA RAS, told Izvestia.

The Cambodian side draws attention to the fact that it opposes unilateral sanctions — this is perhaps the only tangible criterion for joining the BRICS group, which does not set impossible conditions for states to join. That is why there are no statements from Singapore. In all of Asia, only this country, along with Japan and South Korea, has officially joined the Western anti-Russian course.

What hinders the expansion of BRICS

The potential of BRICS is already visible to the naked eye. As the association expands, it represents almost half of the entire global population and is ahead of, for example, the G7 in a number of indicators. The GDP of the BRICS countries now stands at 31.5%, and the G7 at 30.8%, and this difference will grow. According to forecasts, 37% versus 27% is expected in 2028. Replenishment also provides new resources for the New BRICS Development Bank (NDB), which finances infrastructure projects, not only in the member countries.

Nevertheless, the ASEAN countries can offer significant advantages beyond mere expansion. Their gradual inclusion enhances the geopolitical weight and importance of the BRICS as a representative of the Global South, strengthening its position in the emerging multipolar world, Elena Burova emphasizes. Indeed, multipolarity, including at the expense of representatives of this part of the planet, is one of the main narratives of the BRICS.

However, not everything is so smooth. Another expansion may be hindered by the difficult international situation. It is obvious that caution prevails in the actions of many States of the Global South due to potential complications in relations with the West.

In particular, Indonesia has been dragging its feet on the accession process, which has been under discussion for the past ten years. During the South African presidency in 2023, Jakarta was considered the main contender. However, since January 1, 2024, Egypt, Iran, the UAE and Ethiopia have officially joined the BRICS. Indonesia has probably been trying to remain neutral all this time: on the one hand, it is a key member of ASEAN, and on the other, the authorities did not want to turn towards China, since BRICS, according to the unspoken opinion, is considered a Chinese initiative. In addition, the country has applied to the OECD, a kind of counterweight to the BRICS.

— Before Indonesia joined the BRICS, we talked a lot about the fact that this country, which claims a significant role not only in regional but also in global issues, will not rush to join. Many initiatives related to Indonesia, which have been discussed for many years but have not been implemented, seemed to confirm this. But with the arrival of Prabowo Subianto as President of Indonesia, the issue was resolved with the stroke of a pen," Pavel Shaternikov, a junior researcher at IMEMO RAS, draws attention.

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Now, according to the expert, Vietnam appears as an obvious candidate for BRICS, which is already cooperating with the association as a partner. It is worth emphasizing that Hanoi has noticeably "delayed" on its way to the BRICS. He was assigned to the partner category at the end of 2024, but the country's Foreign Ministry officially confirmed this only in June 2025. Vietnam is literally torn between the United States and China. On the one hand, China is a major trading partner, although relations between Hanoi and Beijing remain difficult due to past military clashes and ongoing territorial disputes. On the other hand, the United States sees Hanoi as an important ally in the context of the confrontation with China and is actively developing various infrastructure projects there. By the way, the American factor may also hinder the accession of the Philippines. They note that they are monitoring the dynamics of the BRICS development, but no decision has been made yet. And this is not surprising: Washington and Manila are historical allies, and now they are trying to counter Beijing's territorial ambitions in the region.

— Countries that occupy a pro-Western position on the world stage can hinder the effective development of the BRICS, but at a certain point we saw that their influence on potential members was overestimated, as, for example, in the same story with Indonesia. In my opinion, the dilution of the BRICS agenda is more dangerous, which can scare them away. This is especially true for the ASEAN countries, which already have ASEAN—centric formats — EAC, ARF and CMOA+, which have stepped on this rake," said Shaternikov.

We are talking about the East Asian Summit (which brings together ASEAN leaders and dialogue partners), which, by the way, has just been held in Malaysia, the ASEAN regional Forum, as well as the mechanism of interaction between the defense ministries of the association countries and dialogue partners. After the expansion of all these formats, Russia, China, India, and the United States with Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and South Korea found themselves there. It is very, very difficult to "marry" the interests of these countries, the expert emphasizes.