Saudi Arabia keen to join SCO and BRICS - Russian Ambassador informs -

Riyadh: ‘As part of the diversification of the kingdom’s foreign policy, Saudi Arabia is keen to join such international associations as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization-SCO and BRICS’, claimed Sergey Kozlov, Russia’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia. Besides, the ambassadors of Russia and South Africa say discussions have been ongoing in the BRICS nations about including Iran in the organisation, just like Saudi Arabia.

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) was established in 2001. There has been a total of eight member countries in this organisation based on political, economic, energy, technology, and cultural cooperation. This includes countries like Russia, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan. Besides, four observers and six cooperating countries were included in this organisation. SCO has gained importance over the last few years in the background of regional security.

Moreover, BRICS is being looked upon as an alternative to organisations under the influence of Western countries. It is an association of five developing countries, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Nearly 25% of the world’s total Gross National Product comes from the BRICS nations. As much as 40% of the world’s population falls in these BRICS nations. Therefore, international analysts drew attention to the fact that the BRICS has the highest manpower in the world.

Russian ambassador Sergey Kozlov informed the Russian news agency that in such a situation, Saudi Arabia had changed its foreign policy over the past few years. Under this changing foreign policy, Saudi Arabia has felt the need to participate in international organisations such as SCO and BRICS, said Kozlov. The Russian ambassador said that Saudi’s participation in the SCO was being discussed, and the inclusion of Saudi Arabia in this multinational organisation has nearly been quite certain. Also, South Africa’s ambassador to BRICS said that Saudi and Iran’s participation in BRICS was under discussion.

Meanwhile, earlier this year, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov informed that about 12 countries, including Saudi Arabia, were eager to become member nations of BRICS. Lavrov said this includes Latin American, African and Middle East countries. Besides, most of these countries were claimed to be under the influence of China.

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