Kazakhstan's strategic choice
Kazakhstan declined full membership of BRICS at the bloc's October summit in Kazan, choosing instead to watch how the group develops while diversifying its foreign-policy ties and keeping close engagement with the West, The Diplomat reports.
Kazakhstan’s strategic choice
The 16th BRICS summit took place in Kazan from 22 to 24 October under Russia’s chairmanship, with 36 delegations and 20 heads of state taking part. Syria, Thailand, Malaysia, Azerbaijan and Türkiye expressed a wish to join BRICS at the summit. Kazakhstan, however, which belongs to every other regional organisation, held back from full BRICS membership while stressing its commitment to strengthening its role as a close partner of the group, the American magazine The Diplomat reports.
In the view of The Diplomat’s American analysts, Kazakhstan’s membership would be strategically important to Russia, and bringing Kazakhstan in would strengthen BRICS as a single non-Western bloc, since Russia sees BRICS as an alternative path towards a new world order built on multipolarity and on giving developing countries of the Global South far more powers and opportunities.
The analysts trace Kazakhstan’s refusal to join BRICS to the country’s economic interests and geopolitical calculations: the present Western-led global order serves Astana’s national interests better. Moving closer to Moscow carries potential risks, given Western sanctions on Russia and the fact that the EU is an important trading partner for Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan’s economy still depends on exporting oil and metals to EU countries. In 2023 trade between the European Union and Kazakhstan reached $43 billion, alongside rising European and Chinese investment in the Kazakh economy, which is reducing Russia’s influence in the country.
The article notes that the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) has brought Kazakhstan no substantial benefits and that new problems have arisen in trade and payments with Moscow because of sanctions on Russia; Astana therefore views BRICS membership with a degree of scepticism. Kazakhstan emphasises international law and the UN as the way to secure fair and equal solutions. The authors argue that Kazakhstan has begun to distance itself slowly from regional and multilateral blocs that have brought it fewer benefits.
Given all this, the magazine concludes that Kazakhstan has decided to watch how BRICS develops before taking any steps towards full membership, choosing a middle path and diversifying its foreign-policy ties while paying more attention to engagement with the West.
https://thediplomat.com/2024/11/kazakhstans-brics-conundrum/