Six nations will become full-fledged members of the BRICS group of nations starting January 2024, after their candidacies were approved by leaders of the current member states, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced. The expansion topped the agenda of the summit in Johannesburg this week.
Argentina, Ethiopia, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates were welcomed as new members on Thursday. The bloc currently consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
“We value the interest of other countries in building a partnership with BRICS. We’ve tasked our foreign ministers to further develop the BRICS Partners Country model and a list of prospective partner countries,” the South African leader added.
BRICS previously expanded only once in 2010, when South Africa joined the organization. The admission was made without any prerequisites. One of the key goals of this year’s summit was to agree to more formal criteria for new candidates.
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