Ethiopia, Egypt, Argentina, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and UAE have been invited to join the BRICS economic-political bloc from 2024.
This was announced by South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa (the bloc’s chairperson) on the final day of the BRICS summit in Johannesburg, South Africa.
“We have decided to invite the
• Argentine Republic 🇦🇷
• Arab Republic of Egypt 🇪🇬
• F Democratic Republic of Ethiopia 🇪🇹
• Islamic Republic of Iran 🇮🇷
• Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦
• United Arab Emirates 🇦🇪
to become full members of #BRICS from 1 January… pic.twitter.com/K405vztHnh
— Presidency | South Africa 🇿🇦 (@PresidencyZA) August 24, 2023
According to Ramaphosa, BRICS, which currently consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, reached a consensus regarding ‘the fundamental principles, norms, benchmarks, and methodologies for the expansion of BRICS’ during the summit, establishing a clear framework for accepting new members.
With the expansion, six of the world’s nine largest oil producers are now part of BRICS.
Over 40 nations had shown their desire to become part of BRICS, and 23 had officially submitted applications for membership to the consortium. This group already accounted for a significant portion of the global economy, constituting a quarter of the global economy, and encompassed 40% of the global population.
The countries that had shown interest to join the BRICS alliance ahead of the summit are:
- Afghanistan
- Algeria
- Argentina
- Bahrain
- Bangladesh
- Belarus
- Egypt
- Ethiopia
- Indonesia
- Iran
- Kazakhstan
- Mexico
- Nicaragua
- Nigeria
- Pakistan
- Saudi Arabia
- Senegal
- Sudan
- Syria
- the United Arab Emirates
- Thailand
- Tunisia
- Turkey
- Uruguay
- Venezuela
- Zimbabwe
Current BRICS membership (GDP):
- 🇧🇷 Brazil: $2.08 trillion
- 🇷🇺 Russia: $2.06 trillion
- 🇮🇳 India: $3.74 trillion
- 🇨🇳 China: $19.37 trillion
- 🇿🇦 South Africa: $399 billion
Countries joining BRICS starting from January 1 2024:
- 🇦🇷 Argentina: $641 billion
- 🇪🇬 Egypt: $387 billion
- 🇪🇹 Ethiopia: $156 billion
- 🇮🇷 Iran: $367 billion
- 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia: $1.06 trillion
- 🇦🇪 UAE: $499 billion
Total: $30.76 trillion (30% of the global economy)
Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, hailed what he called ‘a great moment’ for his country.
“A great moment for #Ethiopia as the BRICS leaders endorse our entry into this group today. Ethiopia stands ready to cooperate with all for an inclusive and prosperous global order.”
ኢትዮጵያ የBRICS አባል መሆኗን በተመለከተ::
On Ethiopia’s entry into the BRICS group. pic.twitter.com/RBowaMftN9— Abiy Ahmed Ali 🇪🇹 (@AbiyAhmedAli) August 24, 2023
Broadening the scope of the coalition is a component of BRICS strategy to establish influence and restructure worldwide governance into a ‘multipolar’ global arrangement that prioritizes the perspectives of the Global South at the core of the global agenda.
“The world … has entered a new period of turbulence and transformation,” China’s President Xi Jinping said.
“We, the BRICS countries, should always bear in mind our founding purpose of strengthening ourselves through unity.”
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