Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) have announced the entrance of six new countries beginning next year as the club of large and populous emerging economies strives to overhaul the global order.
Argentina, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will be admitted as full members on January 1, 2024, the organization declared during its summit in South Africa.
“This membership expansion is historic,” said China’s President Xi Jinping, whose country is the most powerful in the group of non-western countries that account for a quarter of the world’s economy.
“The expansion also marks a new beginning for Brics cooperation.” It will revitalize the Brics cooperation mechanism and enhance the force for global peace and development.”
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, welcomed the event as “a great moment” for his country. “Ethiopia stands ready to cooperate with all for an inclusive and prosperous global order,” he stated on X, formerly Twitter.
Brics calls for expansion dominated the agenda at the three-day meeting in Johannesburg, exposing divides inside the group over the speed and criteria for admitting new members.
However, the conference had agreed on “the guiding principles, standards, criteria, and procedures of the Brics expansion process,” according to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
With the addition of six additional members, the bloc will represent 46% of the world’s population and an even higher percentage of its economic production, according to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
