Bangladesh has officially applied to join the BRICS coalition, the office of the country's prime minister confirmed to Sputnik.
Earlier, local media outlet Dhaka Tribune reported that the country had applied to join the bloc, citing sources.
The motion was reportedly made after Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina met with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in Geneva last Wednesday.
According to the source, Ramaphosa sees the application favorably.
Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen reportedly said an official letter of interest had been sent to his South African counterpart Naledi Pandor.
In early June, the BRICS foreign ministers, plus representatives of the 'Friends of BRICS', met in Cape Town. Dhaka then openly signaled that it was ready to join BRICS.
On Thursday, Abdul Momen announced that the prime minister of the South Asian country will attend the upcoming BRICS leaders' summit hosted by South Africa in August.
According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, expansion of the organization will be included on the agenda of the summit.
In total, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov earlier said that the number of states interested in joining the association is approaching two dozen.
Potential candidates for accession include countries including Indonesia, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, Bahrain and the UAE.
In particular, Egypt applied to join BRICS this June, which has already been endorsed by Russia.
Apart from that, Algeria filed its official application in November last year. During his recent visit to Moscow, Algerian President Abdelmajid Tebboune expressed the hope that his country could join the alliance in 2023.