MOSCOW, February 15. /TASS/. The BRICS countries will keep their invitation to Argentina to join the association open despite Buenos Aires declining to accept it, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister and Russia's BRICS Sherpa Sergey Ryabkov said.

"We, of course, are not withdrawing the invitation to Argentina; it still stands. We will see how the further development of BRICS will go and what conclusions our Argentine colleagues will draw from that," the senior diplomat said at a press conference of the BRICS Business Council and the BRICS Women's Business Alliance.

Ryabkov recounted that about 30 other countries are interested in aligning with BRICS. "As [the current] BRICS chair, we [Russia] will insist that the partner countries have the widest possible access to the mechanisms and formats of cooperation in BRICS, as close as possible to full membership," he added.

According to him, the list of potential partner countries has not yet been discussed; it is an open question. "One of the criteria, which, in our opinion, is absolutely necessary, <...> is that those countries enjoying such a form of cooperation with BRICS refrain from participating in unilateral sanctions, the sanctions policy of unfriendly countries and blocs," the senior diplomat pointed out.

Speaking about Saudi Arabia's status in BRICS, Ryabkov emphasized that there is no doubt that the desert kingdom has joined the association, effective January 1, 2024, despite internal discussions.

The BRICS group has now gone through two waves of expansion since its inception in 2006. First, in 2011, South Africa joined founding members Brazil, Russia, India and China. Then, in August 2023, six new members, including Argentina, were invited to join BRICS after the intergovernmental group’s summit in Johannesburg. However, in December 2023, the new Argentinian government of President Javier Milei announced that it had declined the invitation for the time being because it considered integration with BRICS impractical. The five new members - Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - have begun working as full-fledged BRICS member states since January 1.