Russia has pledged to support Ghana’s application to become a partner country of the BRICS bloc, with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov promising to seek backing from the group’s founding members.
Ghana’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, disclosed the development in a Facebook post on Wednesday, October 28, following a breakfast meeting with Lavrov and other African foreign ministers during the ongoing Russia-Africa Summit.
According to Ablakwa, Lavrov assured Ghana of Moscow’s support and committed to engaging the other founding members to build consensus in favour of the country’s application.
Ghana announced its intention to seek BRICS partner-country status on October 6, following Cabinet approval. Ablakwa made the announcement during a joint press briefing in Accra with India’s External Affairs Minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
The government says the move is intended to broaden Ghana’s economic and diplomatic opportunities by strengthening cooperation with emerging economies and countries in the Global South.
Ablakwa has also stressed that the initiative is consistent with Ghana’s longstanding foreign policy of non-alignment, guided by the principle of being “friends of all, enemies to none”.
The government maintains that pursuing closer ties with BRICS would not mean abandoning Ghana’s existing international relationships, but rather expanding its options for trade, investment and development cooperation.
BRICS is an intergovernmental grouping of major emerging economies that seeks to promote economic cooperation and strengthen the voice of developing countries in global affairs. Partner-country status offers a route for closer engagement without full membership.
