MINSK, August 23. /TASS/. Belarus expects confirmation of its early admission to the BRICS group (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), Foreign Minister Sergey Aleinik has said.

"In principle, all leaders of the BRICS member-countries [during the ongoing summit of the organization in Johannesburg] expressed political support for the expansion of the organization’s membership. Today, the countries that have applied, including Belarus, expect to receive confirmation of their early admission," Aleinik said in a video released by the press service of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry.

He expressed the certainty that the BRICS expansion "will significantly increase the potential of this organization."

Earlier, South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor said that the leaders of the BRICS countries had agreed on a document, which spells out the principles of admission of new members.

Earlier, 22 countries applied to join BRICS: Algeria, Argentina, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Egypt, Ethiopia, Honduras, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Nigeria, the State of Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, Venezuela and Vietnam.