Malaysia and eight other nations officially became partner countries of the BRICS emerging nations grouping this month after the Southeast Asian nation filed its bid last July to join the 10-member economic bloc that includes Russia and China.
Although Malaysia’s bid for full membership was preceded by Indonesia, which was recently added to BRICS, the country is still believed to be one step away from formally joining the grouping. BRICS was originally founded by Brazil, Russia, India and China in 2009 and later expanded to include South Africa, with Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates joining last year.
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