Ghana Seeks BRICS Partner Status, Not Full Membership – Ablakwa Clarifies
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Honourable Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has clarified that Ghana’s decision is to apply for BRICS Partner Country status, not full membership.
In an interview on Saturday, October 10, 2026, Mr. Ablakwa provided further details on the announcement he made last week regarding Ghana’s intention to join the bloc.
According to him, Ghana already enjoys excellent relations with BRICS member countries and will be joining natural allies in what is arguably the largest trading bloc in the world today.
He stressed that at the heart of the decision is the pursuit of Ghana’s national interest first, as enshrined in Article 40 of the 1992 Constitution.
“BRICS brings together eleven major emerging markets and developing countries of the world: Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and United Arab Emirates. It will therefore serve as a useful platform for consultation and cooperation on contemporary issues having global, as well as regional significance, and issues of global political and economic governance,” the Minister explained.
Mr. Ablakwa dispelled fears that the move could affect Ghana’s relations with its traditional partners who have ideological differences with BRICS members.
He noted that, on the contrary, the decision affirms Ghana’s long-standing policy of non-alignment – a principle that enabled President Kwame Nkrumah, at the height of the Cold War, to navigate global politics to secure support from the United States to build the Akosombo Dam, while at the same time getting the then Soviet Union to support Africa’s pioneering atomic energy programme, the Ghana Nuclear Reactor Project (GNRP).
The Foreign Minister further disclosed that prior to the announcement, government engaged European Union Member States to communicate the rationale for the decision. He said Ghana made it clear that the move was within its sovereign right to diversify its strategic options for development and did not mean disengaging from its traditional partners.
BRIC – comprising Brazil, Russia, India and China – was formalised at the first meeting of BRIC Foreign Ministers on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York in 2006, with the inaugural Summit held in Yekaterinburg, Russia, in 2009.
It expanded into BRICS with the inclusion of South Africa in 2010, with South Africa attending its first Summit in Sanya in 2011.
Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates became full members in January 2024, followed by Indonesia in January 2025.
Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam joined as Partner Countries in 2025. Ghana will, if its bid succeeds, join this category of Partner Countries.
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