Emerging economies group BRICS invites 6 new members, including Saudi Arabia and Iran

The BRICS economical conjugation of emerging markets connected Thursday extended rank invitations to six nations, South African President and existent BRICS seat Cyril Ramaphosa said.

The BRICS confederation — which is composed of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — is acceptable to invitation Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to join, Ramaphosa said successful a code published on the X societal media platform, antecedently known arsenic Twitter.

Their rank would instrumentality effect from Jan. 1, 2024.

South Africa is presently hosting the 15th BRICS summit, wherever the group's enlargement was a cardinal constituent of the gathering agenda. Russian President Vladimir Putin was incapable to be successful person, apt connected relationship of an International Criminal Court warrant that would person theoretically obliged the big state — an ICC signatory — to proceed with his arrest.

"BRICS is simply a divers radical of nations," Ramaphosa said. "It is an adjacent concern of countries that person differing views but a shared imaginativeness for a amended world. As the 5 #BRICS members, we person reached statement connected the guiding principles, standards, criteria and procedures of the #BRICS enlargement process."

A combined 23 countries person formally applied for BRICS membership, including the six that Ramaphosa said were hereby invited. Other large African players, specified arsenic Nigeria and Ghana, person expressed informal interest.

China's President Xi Jinping said Thursday that the enlargement is simply a "new starting constituent for BRICs cooperation." "It volition bring caller vigor to the BRICS practice mechanism, further strengthening a unit for satellite bid and development," helium said astatine a property briefing.

Ramaphosa hinted astatine the anticipation of aboriginal additions.

"We worth the involvement of different countries to signifier a concern with BRICS. We person tasked our overseas ministers to further make the BRICS state exemplary and a database of prospective spouse countries and study by the adjacent summit," helium said during a property briefing of BRICS officials connected Thursday.

"The relevance of the BRICS is demonstrated by the increasing involvement of different countries to articulation our group," said Brazilian person Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. "Now the BRICS is going up to 37% of the world's GDP successful presumption of its purchasing power, and 46% successful presumption of the satellite population. BRICS volition proceed [being] unfastened to caller members."

The UAE welcomed the rank announcement.

"We respect the imaginativeness of the BRICS enactment and admit the inclusion of the UAE arsenic a subordinate to this important group. We look guardant to a continued committedness of practice for the prosperity, dignity and payment of each nations and radical astir the world," UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed said connected X successful the aftermath of the announcement.

Gustavo de Carvalho, argumentation expert and elder researcher astatine the South African Institute of International Affairs, said connected X that the prospective caller members volition not lone summation the visibility of the BRICS bloc, but besides supply an accidental for conjugation participants to commercialized with 1 different successful section currencies.

Brazil's da Silva connected Thursday noted the BRICS radical continues to survey the anticipation of a bloc currency, which could "increase our options for [a] means of outgo and trim our vulnerabilities."

"It's inactive uncertain what volition hap to the radical dynamics, but intelligibly it brings a caller abstraction for commercialized wrong the Global South. Much of the arguments successful the communique reflected the corporate dependable connected request for alteration of planetary institutions, particularly planetary fiscal institutions similar the World Bank, IMF [International Monetary Fund] and WTO [World Trade Organization]," de Carvalho noted.

BRICS nations person struck antithetic tones connected their narration with the West. Commercial and diplomatic tensions person risen betwixt China and the U.S., portion Russia is nether a spate of Western sanctions for its penetration of Ukraine.

"We are acrophobic astir ongoing conflicts successful galore parts of the world. We accent our committedness to the peaceful solution of differences and disputes done dialog and inclusive consultation," Ramaphosa said during the Thursday property briefing, without naming the conflicts successful question.