Jakarta. Indonesia announced Monday that President Prabowo Subianto would fly to Rio de Janeiro for the upcoming BRICS Summit despite the possible absence of Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping.

This would mark Prabowo's first appearance at the forum since Jakarta officially became part of BRICS in January. Brazil will host the summit on July 6-7, but reports showed that the leaders of the group's key members would miss the forum.

Kremlin foreign aide Yuri Ushakov recently stated that Putin would attend the talks via video link due to an outstanding arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The South China Morning Post wrote that Xi would be making his first-ever absence from the gathering due to scheduling conflicts, citing officials familiar with the matter. 

The Jakarta Globe asked Foreign Minister Sugiono about Prabowo’s BRICS Summit attendance -- a question to which the latter only responded with a thumbs up. Sugiono was at the parliamentary complex in Jakarta for a hearing with Indonesian lawmakers. Later that day, his spokesman Rolliansyah “Roy” Soemirat confirmed Prabowo’s BRICS participation.

“To this day, Mr. President [Prabowo] is still scheduled to participate in the summit,” Roy told reporters about an hour after the hearing. 

“The participation of senior Indonesian government officials depends on our national priorities and interests despite the decision of other economies [whether to attend or skip the forum]. So [other leaders’ absence] have nothing to do with our participation,” Roy said.

Brazil, Russia, India and China are the founding members of BRICS, a group that aims to counter Western dominance. The group later expanded with South Africa, hence the acronym. It eventually brought Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Iran, and most recently, Indonesia into its fold. Jakarta has also expressed intention to join the BRICS-backed New Development Bank (NDB) after weighing its pros and cons. 

Earlier that day, Sugiono also dismissed lawmakers’ concerns whether Indonesia’s BRICS membership, coupled with its OECD bid, would affect Indonesia’s stance on not taking sides on the global stage.

The OECD -- short for Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development -- is a separate group of rich nations that do not include China, although Beijing acts as its key partner.

“Remember. Indonesia adopts a non-aligned foreign policy. We cannot afford to take sides. Our country maintains good ties with everyone, but we have our own national interests, which include ensuring our people’s prosperity,” Sugiono said.

“That’s why we maintain good relations with our neighbors,” he stated.