BUENOS AIRES, December 30. /TASS/. The government of President Javier Milei was partly governed by ideological considerations when refusing to enter BRICS, Foreign Minister Diana Mondino said.

"It’s kind of both but mainly the practical one," the minister said, answering a question of a LN+ television reporter whether the refusal to join this association is an ideological or a practical solution.

Rejection of BRICS is "optimization of using time" in the first instance for Argentinian authorities, Mondino noted. "If participating in all organization, then when there will be time to work," she added.

"Liberal democracies" are priority partners for the new administration of Argentina, Mondino noted. The US, European countries, Australia, Israel, Canada and New Zealand are among them, the minister said, not ruling out the opportunity of developing trade and economic relations with other countries. "We will trade with those that pay more. This is not the state to make this decision. Our task is to create conditions for trade," she added.

Argentina’s President Javier Milei officially notified BRICS members that his country would not join the group, presidential administration spokesman Manuel Adorni said earlier. In his letters to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xii Jinping, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Argentinian leader wrote that he did not consider the country’s participation in BRICS appropriate.