KUALA LUMPUR, July 31 — The Inter-Governmental Organisation of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (Brics) economic bloc, which Malaysia wants to join, is not an "anti-Western” organisation, said Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan.

In fact, he emphasised that there are many Brics members who maintain good relations with Western countries.

Mohamad said as a trading nation, it is important for Malaysia to establish good relations with all countries, in an effort to explore new trade and investment opportunities.

"The government sees that Malaysia’s involvement in Brics is in line with efforts to drive the country’s economy to grow more rapidly, stably, and be resilient.

"In addition, Malaysia’s participation in Brics is believed to be able to provide added value to the country, especially involving issues of development and the global economy, as well as other interests for developing countries,” he said in a reply at Dewan Negara published on Parliament website today.

He was replying a question by Senator Datuk Abdul Halim Suleiman who wanted to know if Malaysia’s participation in Brics is in line with the stance and foreign policy of the Malaysian government which has always maintained good relations with all countries.

Mohamad said as a sovereign country, Malaysia is free to join any intergovernmental organisation that is appropriate and beneficial to the country, in line with Malaysia’s independent, principled and pragmatic foreign policy.

"Participation in Brics is in line with Malaysia’s foreign policy approach which supports the concept of multilateralism to deal with various urgent global challenges.

"This is evident through the involvement and active role played by Malaysia in various international organisations at regional and multilateral levels, including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), the United Nations (UN), the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and the Group of 77 (G-77),” he said.

In this regard, Mohamad said that participating in Brics allows Malaysia to contribute for the good of the international community in addition to its voice being heard more on the world stage.

"To this end, Malaysia will redouble efforts to increase cooperation in the economic field and other areas of interest, including in the high-tech sector, such as digital transformation, artificial intelligence and semiconductors.

"Thus, Malaysia is confident that the country’s involvement in Brics will not be an obstacle to good relations and cooperation with any country, including Western countries,” he said. — Bernama