BRICS announced the addition of 6 new member states, two of which are African. Egypt and Ethiopia will be officially added to the elusive group in January of 2024.
Prior to the announcement, more than 40 nations had indicated interest in joining BRICS.
With the revelation that six additional countries have been asked to join as new members, the BRICS bloc of leading developing economies has taken a significant step toward extending its reach and influence. Of the six new BRICS nations, two are Africa, Egypt, and Ethiopia.
From January 1 of the next year, Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates will be officially considered members of the BRICS bloc.
Brazil, Russia, India, and China founded the bloc in 2009, and in 2010, South Africa joined the group. The BRICS club now claims to be working to build a stronger group of developing countries that can better advance the causes of the Global South.
Before the commencement of its annual meeting in South Africa this week, more than 40 nations had indicated interest in joining the group and 23 had formally registered to join, including the African nations of Ethiopia, and Algeria, the former of which has officially been accepted and the latter who’s proposal to join is perhaps still under review.
“We appreciate the considerable interest shown by countries of the Global South in membership of BRICS,” the bloc said in the Johannesburg II declaration it adopted on the final day of the summit on Thursday.
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BRICS noted that the six nations were chosen after it reached a consensus on the guiding principles, standards, criteria, and procedures of the BRICS expansion process, but did not go into further depth about the precise criteria.
The addition of these six countries was referred to as “historic” by the president of China, Xi Jinping. He had been the main advocate for the inclusion of new members, arguing that a larger BRICS would give the global south a more powerful voice in international affairs.
The group’s sole low-income nation is now Ethiopia. Abiy Ahmed, the country’s prime minister, called it “a great moment” for his nation.
