Jakarta. Thailand is currently seeking a seat at the China-led BRICS, and its plan has just received approval from Indonesia, a newcomer in the group.

President Prabowo Subianto has jetted off to Bangkok for high-level talks with Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra. Indonesia is the latest newcomer to the BRICS grouping and even managed to secure full membership within less than three months. Its ASEAN neighbor Thailand wants to follow in its footsteps -- something that Prabowo has taken note of.

"Indonesia fully supports Thailand’s efforts to be a BRICS member. We will facilitate [Thailand] in this regard,” Prabowo said in a statement.

Aside from the possible BRICS expansion, Prabowo also revealed a plan to increase bilateral trade. As expected, Prabowo offered a partnership involving Indonesia’s sovereign wealth fund, Danantara. A transcript of Sinawatra’s statement showed that the Thai leader did not speak of her country’s BRICS candidacy. Even so, Shinawatra agreed that the two countries should further take their bilateral economic ties to greater heights -- particularly for halal and agricultural products.

Russia, one of the BRICS founding members, late last year informed Thailand that the bloc had agreed to accept Bangkok as a “partner country” starting in January 2025. Earlier this month, the Thai government reported to have sought Russia’s backing to become a full member, according to media reports. Malaysia is another ASEAN nation that has become a BRICS partner country.

Indonesia had only applied for BRICS after Prabowo assumed power in October. In January, its current chair, Brazil, announced that the group had given its green light to make Indonesia a full member. BRICS is an informal group of emerging economies such as Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa -- hence the acronym. BRICS later expanded to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, and, most recently, Indonesia. As a group, BRICS mainly engages in areas such as trade, finance, among others.

A country has to meet a list of criteria before it can be part of the BRICS club. Memberships are only open to UN members. Candidates must also maintain good diplomatic ties with all BRICS economies and must refrain from adopting sanctions without authorization from the UN Security Council.

Official government statistics showed that Indonesia-Thailand trade totaled $17.4 billion in 2024. Jakarta posted a $2 billion deficit when doing commerce with Thailand that year. However, Indonesia managed to turn the tables by booking a $484.8 million surplus in the first three months of 2025.

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