NEW DELHI, June 19. /TASS/. Bangladesh has formally requested to join the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) coalition, the Dhaka Tribune wrote on Monday.

The request was put forward following a meeting between the country’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in Geneva last week. The South African president "positively addressed the issue" during the discussion with Prime Minister Hasina, a source told the newspaper.

Bangladesh is currently recognized as a 'Friend of BRICS'. Dhaka openly signaled its readiness to join BRICS at a meeting of BRICS’ and Friends of BRICS’ foreign ministers in early June in Capetown.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told TASS earlier that the total number of countries interested in joining the integration approached 20.