Indonesia wants to join BRICS, ministry says

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia has expressed its desire to join the BRICS group of major emerging economies, which accounts for 35% of global economic output, as a means to strengthen emerging countries, its foreign ministry said in a statement.

As BRICS world leaders convened in Kazan for a summit this week, Indonesia's foreign ministry said late on Thursday that the process of joining the group has begun.

"Indonesia joining BRICS is a manifestation of its independent-active foreign policy," said Sugiono, the newly appointed foreign minister, who like many Indonesians goes by one name. "That does not mean we join a certain bloc, but we actively participate in every forum."

Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation, holds a non-aligned foreign policy.

President Prabowo Subianto, who took office on Sunday, has stressed repeatedly that he will befriend all countries, be they China or the United States, and that Indonesia will not be joining any military bloc.

Sugiono added BRICS suits Prabowo's main government programmes "especially with regards to food and energy security, poverty eradication, and the advancement of human resources," adding that Indonesia sees the group as a "vehicle" to further the interests of the global south.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said more than 30 countries had expressed a desire to join the BRICS, though there was little immediate clarity on how the expansion would work.

Current members include Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Iran, Russia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates.

Yohanes Sulaiman, an international relations professor at Jenderal Achmad Yani University, questioned the benefits of Indonesia joining BRICS as they can be gleaned from bilateral relations, but it shows Indonesia does not want to miss out.

"It's better to follow than to be left behind," he said, adding it does not necessarily mean Prabowo's foreign policy adheres more to the east than to the west.

In a bid to attract more investment and trade deals from its members, Indonesia said earlier this year before Prabowo took office that it aims to complete the accession to become the member of Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) within two to three years.

The BRICS summit in Kazan touched on the war in the Middle East and Ukraine, though there were no signs that anything specific would be done to end either conflict. (This story has been corrected to remove Saudi Arabia from the list of BRICS countries in paragraph 8)

(Reporting by Stanley Widianto; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)