Turkey is trying to rekindle closer ties with BRICS.
During a visit to China, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan says the country "is exploring new opportunities for cooperation with multiple partners in various formations" and that the BRICS grouping is a "good alternative to the EU".
Turkey has been negotiating EU membership in theory since 2005, but since 2016, almost all talks have been on hold. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has instead looked east and in 2018 announced that Turkey intended to join BRICS.
Since then, not much has happened in this regard for the NATO country.
He says Turkey is blocked from entering the EU by a few large countries and that despite BRICS still "has a long way to go", the organization is interesting.
The visit to China aims to strengthen cooperation between the two countries, and Fidan has backed China's "One China" principle, which refers to Taiwan being part of the nation governed from Beijing.
Fidan will next travel to Russia for the BRICS foreign ministers' meeting in Nizhny Novgorod.
Moscow welcomes Hakan Fidan's rapprochement, according to Reuters. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said Turkey's membership would be discussed at the autumn summit in Kazan.
BRICS, formed by Brazil, Russia, India, and China, was expanded in 2010 with South Africa. In January this year, Ethiopia, Iran, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates also joined the grouping.
