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BRICS member states currently work on criteria for admission of new members — senator

This indicates the seriousness of the organization: not to admit everyone at once under unclear principles, Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said

ALGIERS, March 16. /TASS/. The BRICS association is currently working on development of criteria for admission of new members, and decision on new members will be made by all five countries, Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko told reporters Thursday.

"BRICS member states [Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa], the five, agreed that they will develop common clear mechanisms of admission of other states to this structure. This also indicates the seriousness of the organization: not to [admit] everyone at once under unclear principles. Such work on development of criteria for expansion of BRICS is underway. It will be decided by the five BRICS member states," Matviyenko said.

The Speaker called Algeria’s membership application a reputable one.

"Among the countries that would also like to join, I would call it [Algeria’s application - TASS] a rather strong and leading one," Matviyenko noted, adding that Algeria has all chances to become one of the first states to join the association’s work.

Earlier on Thursday, Matviyenko said after her meeting with the President of Algeria Abdelmadjid Tebboune that Russia will support Algeria’s intent to join BRICS/.

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