SIRIUS /Federal Territory/, November 11. /TASS/. Uganda has received an invitation to become a BRICS partner country, the East African nation’s Foreign Minister Odongo Jeje Abubakher told TASS.

"Yes, it was received. We are processing the invitation; it is now a matter of our internal processes," he said on the sidelines of the first ministerial conference of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum.

The group has expanded twice since being created in 2006. South Africa joined the four founding nations - Brazil, Russia, India and China - in 2011. Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates became full-fledged BRICS members on January 1, 2024.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said following a BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan in October that a list of the group’s partner countries had been approved. However, it wasn’t made public. The Russian leader explained that first, invitations would be sent to those countries and once they gave a positive response, the countries’ names would be announced.