The alternative club to the G-7 grows. The group of emerging economies called BRICS (acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) agreed on Thursday to invite up to six more countries: Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates and Iran. "As the five BRICS members, we have reached an agreement on the guiding principles, standards, criteria and procedures of the expansion process," announced the South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, on the last day of the XV Summit of Heads of State and of Government of the group in Johannesburg, which began this Tuesday.
"We have decided to invite the Republic of Argentina, the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to become full members of the BRICS from 1 January 2024," the South African president solemnly announced.
Ramaphosa pointed out that there is "a consensus on the first phase of this expansion process", in a joint press conference with the presidents of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva; China, Xi Jinping; the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, and the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergei Lavrov, who represents Vladimír Putin.
Some forty countries had expressed their desire to join that club, according to the South African government, which this year holds the bloc's rotating presidency and had received "formal expressions of interest" from 23 countries, including Argentina, Bolivia, Cuba, Honduras and Venezuela.
China had especially supported the expansion of the BRICS, which are seeking more weight in international institutions, hitherto dominated by the United States and Europe; every time that Beijing wants to expand its influence in competition with the United States. In the case of Argentina, Lula stressed on Tuesday that "it is very important that Argentina be in the BRICS." Brazil is the main trading partner of neighboring Argentina.
Brazil, Russia, India and China created the BRIC group in 2006, to which South Africa joined in 2010 by adding the letter S to the acronym. The bloc represents more than 42% of the world's population and 30% of the planet's territory, as well as 23% of gross domestic product (GDP) and 18% of world trade.
