Kenya highlights growing global influence of BRICS

(MENAFN) Kenya views BRICS as an increasingly influential economic bloc on the world stage, according to the country’s ambassador to Russia, Peter Mutuku Mathuki. He highlighted the group’s expanding economic significance and the growing participation of African nations as making BRICS a key strategic partner for engagement.

Mathuki said Kenya is actively examining how collaboration with BRICS could support its national development and economic goals. “BRICS itself is a very important bloc in the world order today and it’s a bloc that everyone seems to be watching,” he stated, adding that Kenya “could work closely with BRICS.”

Founded in 2006 by Brazil, Russia, India, and China, and joined by South Africa in 2010, BRICS has recently welcomed full membership for Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates, and Indonesia. Its partner countries include Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, and Uzbekistan.

Mathuki also underscored Russia’s contributions to Kenya’s food security, particularly through wheat deliveries. From January to October 2025, Russia supplied over 500,000 tons of wheat to Kenya. He emphasized that collaboration between the two countries spans fertilizers, food products, machinery, and other agricultural sectors, calling food security a “key pillar and priority” essential for addressing broader social and economic challenges.

Addressing questions about neocolonialism, the ambassador stressed that Kenya shapes its future based on independence and transformation rather than colonial frameworks. “Instead of thinking colonial, we think of independence… of how we can transform the lives of our people,” he said.

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