Jakarta. Economist Achmad Nur Hidayat recently said that Indonesia's freshly announced membership in BRICS could help the country achieve its targeted growth of 8 percent.

BRICS chair Brazil not long ago revealed that Indonesia had officially become the group's 10th member. Aside from the aforementioned members, the alliance includes Russia, India, China, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Achmad said that the partnership with BRICS members could enable Indonesia to take advantage of technology transfers. Jakarta will also be able to speed up its industrialization process and expand its export markets. This could eventually bring Indonesia to unlock the 8 percent growth as targeted by President Prabowo Subianto.

"But to achieve that growth, the government has to prioritize the domestic infrastructure development and make deregulation. Indonesia also needs to improve its investment climate. We should see the BRICS membership as a tool to unlock a sustainable economic transformation, not as an end goal," Achmad said.

Securing a seat in BRICS also increases chances of Indonesia to attract foreign direct investment from the bloc's members, especially economies with high technology. Over the past years, BRICS has also tried to play a role in several strategic issues, including its de-dollarization agenda. This will cement Indonesia's role on the international stage, according to Achmad.

Even so, the membership has its risks.

Achmad warned the possibility of BRICS turning from an economic forum to a geopolitical alliance with a hard power approach that can threaten the global stability. This might put Indonesia in a conflict that goes against its foreign diplomacy of not aligning with any bloc.

"Indonesia needs to make sure that its membership in BRICS does not sacrifice its basic foreign policy principles and national interests," Achmad said.

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