The Foreign Office (FO) confirmed on Monday that a member of the five-nation summit BRICS “blocked Pakistan’s participation” in the “High-level Dialogue on Global Development” held virtually last week.
The BRICS brings together five of the largest developing countries in the world, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. It represents 41 per cent of the global population, 24 per cent of the global GDP, and 16 per cent of the worldwide trade.
This year, China is hosting the summit in its capacity as the group chair.
On June 24, leaders of two dozen non-member countries of the BRICS’ “High-level Dialogue on Global Development” attended the meeting virtually.
Among others, India, Iran, Egypt, Fiji, Algeria, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and two CAS participated in the dialogue. But, Pakistan remained absent from the meeting.
Today, in response to media queries over the matter, the FO, without naming the country, said: “Regrettably one member blocked Pakistan’s participation.”
The country blocking Pakistan’s participation is believed to be India, as both New Delhi and Islamabad are embroiled in the decades-long Kashmir dispute.
Read more: Pakistan to approach G-20 against Indian ambition to hold summit in disputed region
However, the Foreign Office said, “we do hope that future engagement of the organisation would be based on the principles of inclusivity keeping in view the overall interests of the developing world and in a manner that is devoid of narrow geopolitical considerations.”
The FO went on to congratulate Beijing for successfully hosting the BRICS meeting.
“We appreciate China’s role in promoting the interests of the developing countries. Together with China, Pakistan has been a strong voice for global peace, shared prosperity and inclusive development. Pakistan is the current chair of G77+China and also part of group of friends of the Global Development Initiative (GDI),” it said.
The statement added that Pakistan and China were all-weather strategic partners, and their “iron brotherhood” was rock solid. “The two countries are fully committed to take our all-round cooperation to higher levels both bilaterally and multilaterally.”
Islamabad further resolved to stand with all developing countries to address the challenges faced by the global community, including the BRICS members.