Afrasianet - Thirteen countries have been granted BRICS partner status following the group's summit in Kazan, Russia, last month, Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said, without mentioning her.

The Indian spokesman told a press conference: "13 countries have been accepted as partner countries. It was a collective decision of the BRICS countries," he said, adding that the status of the partner country was different from full membership.

Following the Kazan summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that the list of partner countries in the group had been agreed, but the full list was not disclosed.

Putin explained that invitations will first be sent to these countries, and upon receiving a positive response, who is included in this list will be announced.

WBRIX is an international group established in 2006, initially including Russia, Brazil, India and China, then South Africa joined the group in 2011, and at the beginning of 2024, 4 new countries joined it: Egypt, the UAE, Iran and Ethiopia as full members, while Saudi Arabia has the status of an "invited member".