the five brix Developing countries will welcome six new members as the trading bloc moves to increase its influence in global trade and politics.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said, Thursday, that the union will include Saudi Arabia, Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt, Argentina and the United Arab Emirates, bringing the number of 11 member states to 11.
The new candidates will be formally admitted as members on January 1, 2024, increasing the number of countries from five to eleven.
“BRICS has embarked on a new chapter in its efforts to build a just world, a just world, one that is inclusive and also prosperous,” President Ramaphosa, who is hosting the BRICS Leaders Summit, said at a press conference. Briefing in Johannesburg.
The BRICS currently includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. This acronym was originally coined by an economist at global investment banking, securities and investment management firm Goldman Sachs.
“The BRICS group itself is a diverse group of countries. It is an equal partnership between countries that have different views but have a common vision for a better world. As the five BRICS countries, we have come to an agreement on the principles, standards and guiding procedures for the process of BRICS expansion, which has been under discussion for a long time.
The South African president and his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, indicated that the bloc may accept more countries in the future.
“We have a consensus on the first phase of this expansion process and other phases will follow,” said President Ramaphosa.
its Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping She welcomed the expansion of the trade bloc, saying it is a new starting point for BRICS cooperation.
“This will add new vitality to the BRICS cooperation mechanism and enhance the strength of world peace and development,” said President Jinping.
Expansion now means that the economic bloc of the BRICS countries will cumulatively control at least 30 percent of global GDP, with China leading the group with a GDP of $19.3 trillion, followed by India with $3.7 trillion, and Brazil ($2.1 trillion). Russia ($2 trillion). ), Saudi Arabia ($1 trillion), Argentina ($0.6 trillion), the United Arab Emirates ($0.4 trillion), South Africa and Egypt ($0.4 trillion), Iran ($0.36 trillion), and Ethiopia ($0.15 trillion).
This means that from January 1, when the new membership takes effect, the bloc will have a cumulative nominal GDP of $30.51 trillion, giving the bloc more negotiating power, including more voting rights in the International Monetary Fund.
Before the new members were brought in, the bloc controlled at least 40 percent of the world’s population, and the new members were set to expand the market.
The discussion on expanding the trade bloc topped the agenda of the conference Three-day summit Even as member states reject plans to issue a new currency to challenge the dollar as the world’s trade currency of choice.
South Africa’s deputy director-general in charge of public diplomacy, Clayson Monyela, said the bloc had no intention of forging a common currency for member states to rival the dollar.
He said the move would not make the economic bloc different from the G7 – the focus of seven of the world’s richest countries including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States – which the BRICS aims to counter.
“This is not on the agenda. This has not been discussed and it is certainly not on the programme,” Monella said. standard On the sidelines of the three-day conference.
“There is no discussion about introducing a new currency. Rather, the discussion revolves around using local currencies in our trade and extending that to include the countries of the Global South.”