Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow has sought India's support to join the 11-nation BRICS group under New Delhi's upcoming presidency of the Global South grouping in 2026, a Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) statement said on Monday evening.
According to the Thai statement, the two diplomats discussed their respective foreign policies amid the current geopolitical challenges.
"Thailand reiterates its readiness to cooperate with India in various multilateral frameworks to strengthen regional integration," it said.
Describing India-Thailand relations as "historically close and friendly", Jaishankar said that India's ‘Act East' Policy has found a sort of match in Thailand’s ‘Act West' Policy. He called Thailand an "important maritime neighbour" of India's.
The two sides also exchanged perspectives on political issues, particularly joint efforts to address emerging threats, including online scams and assistance to Indian victims. The situation in Myanmar as well as Cambodia-Thailand border tensions also figured in talks, it said.
The most recent BRICS expansion took place at the Kazan Summit in October 2024, when six new member countries - Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) - were admitted to the grouping. The Kazan Summit also saw the formation of the "partner country model", with Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, and Uzbekistan inducted in the partner country framework.
At the BRICS Summit in Rio De Janeiro this year, Vietnam was also inducted as a BRICS partner.