SOCHI, October 2. Nearly twenty countries have expressed interest in establishing partnership relations with the BRICS association of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, Russia’s top diplomat Sergey Lavrov said on Monday.

"The world is becoming multipolar, with countries seeking to find reliable partners, and BRICS’ expansion is the main confirmation of this," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at the 20th annual meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club.

"Six countries initially joined five BRICS member states and later, 15 or 20 more, as far as I know, expressed their intention to establish some kind of a relationship [with the organization] as well," Lavrov stated.

The 15th BRICS Summit was held on August 22-24 in Johannesburg under the chairmanship of South Africa.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced at a post-summit news conference that Argentina, Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and the UAE would join BRICS on January 1, 2024.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also said that the BRICS leaders had agreed upon the guiding principles, standards, criteria and procedures for accepting new member states as the group seeks to expand further.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that "the weight, prestige and role of an individual candidate country and, of course, its position in the international arena" were taken into account in decision-making on expanding BRICS.

An updated list of candidate countries for BRICS membership will be prepared for consideration at the group’s next annual summit, which will take place under Russia’s one-year chairmanship.