BRICS: India suspected of locking Pakistan out of non-members meeting

By Staff Reporter

ISLAMABAD: Voicing its strongest condemnation, the Foreign Office (FO) on Monday said Pakistan’s participation in a virtual High-Level Dialogue on Global Development on the sidelines of BRICS meetings was barred by a member country with a mala fide intent.
Foreign Office, however, did not mention the name, but it is widely suspected that it was India that perpetrated this sabotage.
“China being the host country engaged with Pakistan prior to the BRICS meetings, where decisions are taken after consultations with all BRICS members, including extending invitations to non-members,” FO Spokesperson Asim Iftikhar said without mentioning the name of the member.
“Regrettably one member blocked Pakistan’s participation.”
Leaders of two dozen non-member countries of the BRICS format attended the meeting virtually on June 24 except Pakistan.
The XIV BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) Summit of five emerging regional economies brings together five of the largest developing countries in the world, representing 41 percent of the global population, 24 percent of the global GDP and 16 percent of the global trade.
“However, we do hope that future engagement of the organisation would be based on the principles of inclusivity keeping in view the overall interests of the developing world and in a manner that is devoid of narrow geopolitical considerations,” Iftikhar said.
Islamabad appreciates Beijing’s role in promoting the interests of the developing countries and together with China, Pakistan has been a strong voice for global peace, shared prosperity and inclusive development, it said.
“Pakistan is the current chair of G77+China and also part of a group of friends of the Global Development Initiative (GDI).”
He said Pakistan and China were all-weather strategic partners and their iron brotherhood was rock solid, adding, the two countries were fully committed to take our all-round cooperation to higher levels both bilaterally and multilaterally.”
“Pakistan stands ready to engage with all developing countries, including the BRICS members, to address the challenges faced by the global community,” the FO official said.