Cuba will join BRICS in economic difficulties.Submission of an Application for a Partner State to Russia

Russia's state-run TAS news agency reported on the 8th that Cuba, a communist country suffering from economic difficulties, is joining the BRICS, an emerging economy consultative body.

Carlos Pereira, head of the Cuban foreign ministry's bilateral general affairs bureau, said on his X account that Cuba has officially conveyed its intention to participate as a BRICS partner to Russia, the BRICS chair country.

"Cuba has written to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the BRICS chairman, who is consolidating the hopes of the 'Global South' camp, which refers to emerging and developing countries in the southern hemisphere, to apply for BRICS partnership," Pereira said.

Earlier, Russian Ambassador to Cuba Viktor Koronelli said in an interview with Tas the previous day that Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel was invited to the BRICS expansion summit in Kazan, Russia, from the 22nd to the 24th.

Cuba, which is struggling with chronic economic difficulties due to U.S. sanctions, is seeking self-rescue measures by allowing private businesses in some industries and boosting tourism for the first time in more than six decades since the 1959 Cuban Revolution.

Although North Korea is a long-standing diplomatic country, it also established diplomatic relations with South Korea in February.

Putin, who has been chairman of the BRICS since early this year, has been working on the BRICS as a platform to counter Western economic consultative bodies amid a growing global confrontation.