After the deliberations, the members of the block of emerging economies announced this Thursday, August 24, that there will be an expansion that will include half a dozen of the twenty countries that had expressed their willingness to join. Starting in January 2024, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Ethiopia will join. The new partners showed their optimism for their upcoming participation.
First modification:
2 min
As of January 1, 2024, six countries will join the BRICS group of countries, the block of emerging economies that seeks to open an alternative global financial system to the one that is currently commanded by the West and headed by the United States.
To Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa –the nations that give the group its name- Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia and Iran will be added, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced this Thursday, August 24. “With this summit, the BRICS start a new chapter,” he said.
On the agenda of the summit was the initiative to expand the list of members, an idea that was shared by the quintet, but that found some misgivings in some like India, who raised the need for clear rules to define acceptances.
“We have agreed on the issue of enlargement. We have adopted a document that defines the guidelines, principles and processes to examine the countries that wish to become members of the BRICS”, the South African Minister of Foreign Affairs, Naledi Pandor, announced a day earlier.
Some 40 nations had shown interest in joining, but only 23 formally requested access, something China viewed as positive and a sign of the bloc’s growing influence.
The expansion will mean that the BRICS group, which until the expansion covered 23% of the world’s Gross Domestic Product, will now cover 30%.
The countries that adhere to the block reacted quickly and showing welcome after Ramaphosa’s announcement.
The Egyptian head of state Abdelfatah Al Sisi stressed that they hope to “cooperate and coordinate to achieve objectives towards strengthening with the Global South.”
Some new members are experiencing financial difficulties
Cairo’s acceptance occurs in a context in which it is experiencing a serious economic crisis and carries an onerous debt with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to which it had to turn in search of solutions.
A practically identical situation is that of Argentina. Its accession was strongly supported by China and Brazil, its two main trading partners. Even the Brazilian Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had described the income of his regional neighbor as “very important”, despite his financial difficulties, among which high inflation stands out.
The current Argentine president Alberto Fernández gave a message through social networks after the confirmation. “We wanted and want to be part of the BRICS because the difficult global context gives the bloc a singular relevance and makes it an important geopolitical and financial benchmark, although not the only one for this developing world,” he said.
A new scenario opens for Argentina: we have joined the BRICS alliance.
It is a new step in the consolidation of the fraternal country and open to the world that we always dream of being.
We are facing a great opportunity to strengthen ourselves 🇦🇷 pic.twitter.com/dpVvMAuNMK
– Alberto Fernandez (@alferdez) August 24, 2023
For his part, the Emirati leader Mohamed bin Zayed asserted through X (previously called Twitter) that they respect the vision of the BRICS group and that they “appreciate” the inclusion of the United Arab Emirates.
In the same sense, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia expressed himself, who described the acceptance of membership in the bloc as “a great moment.” “Ethiopia stands ready to cooperate with everyone for a prosperous and inclusive global order,” said Abiy Ahmed.
With EFE and AFP
#BRICS #economic #group #confirms #admission #members