REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Indonesian Foreign Minister Sugiono dismissed accusations that the accession of RI was a mistake because it contradicted the principle of 'free and active'. Instead, Step RI joined BRICS as part to execute that principle.

“Initially, many of the parties who questioned Indonesia's entry into the BRICS were perceived as violating our principle of active freedom, on the contrary, our membership in BRICS is a form of active free politics itself,” Sugiono said at a press conference on Indonesian diplomacy early in 2025, Friday (10/1/2025).

According to Sugiono, Indonesia's diplomacy to eventually join the BRICS is not an overnight pursuit. But as a testament to the decades-long tenacity of Indonesian diplomacy.

This month, he said, RI had officially become a member of the BRICS. Within three months, the BRICS members agreed to elect RI as a full member. “Indonesia is seen as an important country to join,” he said.

As a member of BRICS, the Minister of Foreign Affairs continued, RI will ensure to bridge the interests of developing and Indo-Pacific countries, and actively prevent geoeconomic and geo-political conflicts. “RI's membership in the BRICS is not an isolated policy,” he stressed.

The Russian government welcomes Indonesia's accession to the BRICS as a full member, which it considers will play an important role in uniting the Global East and South, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday (9/1).

Brazil, which has been the bloc's rotating president since January 1, 2025, announced Indonesia's admission to the BRICS on January 6.

“Russia welcomes the accession of the Republic of Indonesia to the BRICS as a full member state from January 1, 2025,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“Indonesia's candidacy has been presented and provisionally approved as part of the bloc's 'first wave' expansion at a summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2023. However, given that presidential elections will be held in 2024, our partners in Indonesia decided to postpone Jakarta's official candidacy until a new head of state takes office and a government is formed,” the statement continued.

Indonesia's candidacy was unanimously approved by all BRICS member states, the ministry said.

BRICS is an association between various governments formed in 2006. In addition to Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, BRICS full members now include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, and Indonesia

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