The BRICS — Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa — agreed at their annual summit to make Argentina, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates full members from January 1
Johannesburg,):BRICS leaders announced on Thursday the admission of six new countries from next year as the club of large and populous emerging economies seeks to reshape the global order.
The BRICS — Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa — agreed at their annual summit to make Argentina, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates full members from January 1.
“This membership expansion is historic,” said Chinese President Xi Jinping, whose nation is the most powerful in the group of non-Western states that represents a quarter of the world’s economy.
“The expansion is also a new starting point for BRICS cooperation. It will bring new vigour to the BRICS cooperation mechanism and further strengthen the force for world peace and development.”
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed hailed what he called “a great moment” for his country.
“Ethiopia stands ready to cooperate with all for an inclusive and prosperous global order,” he said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Calls to enlarge the BRICS had dominated the agenda at its three-day summit in Johannesburg and exposed divisions among the bloc over the pace and criteria for admitting new members.
But the group, which makes decisions by consensus, had agreed on “the guiding principles, standards, criteria and procedures of the BRICS expansion process”, said South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Nearly two dozen countries had formally applied to join the club from across the “Global South”, a broad term referring to non-Western nations.
Some 50 other heads of state and government attended the summit, underscoring what BRICS leaders say is the attractiveness of its message.
