Responding to inquiries from Tengrinews.kz, President of Kazakhstan's Adviser and Press Secretary Berik Uali discussed the nation's stance on possible BRICS international association membership, Kazinform News Agency reports.
Uali says that offers to join BRICS have come in for Kazakhstan several times. Furthermore, he discussed the President's calendar, which calls for attending the BRICS conference in Kazan on October 23–24. Invited to this event as a guest of Vladimir Putin, the association's chairman, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev intends to address an extended conference of the organization in the "outreach" style on October 24.
Berik Uali remarked Kazakhstan's stance on BRICS participation and pointed out that several CIS nations have already applied to be members of the group.
“Kazakhstan is watching the evolution of BRICS with interest and supports the calls of the leaders of the founding states of the organization to make every effort to build a fair, democratic world order free from the hegemony of any superpowers,” he said.
From the standpoint of the national interests of Kazakhstan, Uali also said that the President gave much thought to the ideas for the country's BRICS admission and sent them for review to the pertinent agencies.
“At the same time, at present and, most likely, in the foreseeable future, Kazakhstan will refrain from submitting an application to BRICS, including taking into account the multi-stage process of considering the membership issue, as well as other issues related to the development prospects of this association,” the adviser noted.
Uali also answered a question about the priorities of Kazakhstan's diplomacy. "The President has repeatedly spoken out in favor of the UN as a universal and uncontested organization in which all current international issues can and should be discussed, including those related to the construction of a just world order. According to the President, the UN is not free from shortcomings, but there is no other such organization, and therefore it needs the support of the world community," Berik Uali said.
The adviser also added that the UN Charter should remain the basis of international law, and no state has the right to violate its principles.
“The President has already expressed regret over the inability of the UN Security Council to make important and fateful decisions. Therefore, he considers it necessary to begin reforming the UN Security Council based on broad consultations of UN member states, taking into account the interests of the “middle powers,” he concluded.