BRICS announce “historic” incorporation of six new countries, including Argentina

The leaders of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) announced on Thursday the “historical” admission of six new members from next year, including Argentina, at a time when the club of emerging countries seeks to gain influence on the international scene.

Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates will join the group as of January 1, 2024, declared the South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, at a joint press conference with leaders of the five countries that currently make up the block.

“With this summit, the BRICS start a new chapterRamaphosa said.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva welcomed the new members on platform X (formerly Twitter) and dedicated “a special message” to the Argentine president, Alberto Fernández, a “great friend of Brazil and the developing world”.

From Buenos Aires, Fernández said that Argentina proposed to be part of the BRICS because it is “an important geopolitical and financial referent, although not the only one, for this developing world”.

“The presence at this BRICS meeting of dozens of leaders from other countries of the Global South shows that the world is more complex than the Cold War mentality that some want to restore”, added Lula.

For Chinese President Xi Jinping, this “historic enlargement” portends a “bright future for countries” of the block.

Iran celebrated its accession as a “strategic success for the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic”, while the Ethiopian government saw in the incorporation a “strong moment” for his country and the United Arab Emirates also congratulated himself on his entry.

Riyadh had a somewhat more cautious reaction: the Saudi Foreign Minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, said “appreciate the invitation” although he will wait to know the details about “the nature of the accession”.

”Intense discussions”

The question of the expansion of the alliance was a priority in this summit, which ends tonight.

Some forty nations had applied for membership or expressed their desire to join the bloc created in 2009, which represents almost a quarter of GDP and 42% of the world’s population.

The negotiations took place during a plenary session on Wednesday behind closed doors and in various bilateral meetings.

“The different countries did not have the same idea of ​​​​expansion at the beginning”, explained Li Kexin of the Chinese delegation, in a press conference on the sidelines of the summit.

“The discussions were quite intense and took place not without problems”, affirmed for his part the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, in a different appearance before the media. The choice was made based on theweight, authority” and “position on the international scene” of the candidates, added Lavrov.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is under an international arrest warrant for war crimes in Ukraine, spoke at the summit via videoconference.

Global governance structures “reflect the world of yesterday”, admitted the head of the UN, Antonio Guterres, present at the summit. The multilateral institutionsmust be reformed to reflect current power and economic realities”, he added.

”International pariahs”

According to observers, member countries must strike a balance between their proximity to China and Russia and the risk of moving away from an important trading partner such as Washington.

The block will soon include “to the United States’ biggest geopolitical rival (China) and to one of its historical strategic allies (Saudi Arabia)“, as well as “two international pariahs from the western point of view”, Russia and Iran, noted the Oxford Economics Africa think tank.

For its part, the United States has already said that it does not see futures in the BRICS “geopolitical rivals” and that you want to keep your currently “strong relationships” with Brazil, India and South Africa.

China’s expansion ambitions likely played a role in the decision to expand the bloc quickly, said Ziyaanda Stuurman of the Eurasia Group. Given the new composition, Beijing could be at an advantage, she said.

But at the same time, “it is also possible that the increase in the number of members makes the group less geopolitically coherent”, added the specialist.

A heterogeneous alliance, the BRICS share the demand for a more inclusive world balance. During the meeting, the BRICS reaffirmed their position “not aligned”, in a context of divisions as a result of the conflict in Ukraine.

Source: AFP