BRICS: Ablakwa dispels fears that Ghana's application will affect its relations with its traditional partner countries

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has given further clarification to the announcement he made last week about Ghana's decision to apply for BRICS membership.

In an exclusive interview granted on Key Points, a Saturday morning TV Talk Show on TV3, on 10th October, 2026, the Minister clarified that, Ghana intends to apply as a Partner Country.

According to the Minister, Ghana already enjoys excellent relations with the BRICS member countries. Therefore, the West African country will be joining natural allies in a bloc that arguably is the largest trading bloc today.

He stressed that at the heart of the decision is the desire to seek the national interest first, as enshrined in Article 40 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.

He also stated that, BRICS brings together eleven major emerging markets and developing countries of the world: Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and United Arab Emirates. It will therefore serve as a useful platform for consultation and cooperation on contemporary issues having global, as well as regional significance, and issues of global political and economic governance.

The Minister also dispelled fears that this decision will affect Ghana's relations with its traditional partner countries who have ideological differences with the BRICS member countries.

He explained that, on the contrary, the decision affirms Ghana's policy of non-alignment, which enabled President Kwame Nkrumah, at the height of the Cold War, to navigate the terrain to secure the support of the United States to build the Akosombo Dam, while at the same time getting the then Soviet Union (Russia) to launch Africa’s pioneering atomic energy programme, the Ghana Nuclear Reactor Project (GNRP).

Okudzeto Ablakwa further disclosed that, prior to the announcement, there was some engagement with the European Union Member States, and Ghana was clear in communicating the rationale for its decision, which was within its right to diversify its strategic options for development, and that, it did not mean Ghana seeks to disengage with them.

History

BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) was formalised at the first meeting of BRIC Foreign Ministers on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), in New York, in 2006. The inaugural BRIC Summit was convened in Yekaterinburg, Russia, in 2009.

It was agreed to expand BRIC into BRICS with the inclusion of South Africa at the BRIC Foreign Ministers’ meeting in New York, in 2010. Accordingly, South Africa attended the 3rd BRICS Summit in Sanya in 2011.

Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and UAE became full member of BRICS from January 2024 and Indonesia in January 2025.

Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam joined BRICS as Partner Countries in 2025. Ghana will therefore become part of these countries, in terms of status, if her bid succeeds.