During the meeting of the five-nation BRICS bloc in Johannesburg on Wednesday, August 23, South Africa’s foreign minister announced that BRICS leaders have reached a consensus to enlarge the group of significant emerging economies and have established criteria for new member entry.
Calls to enlarge the BRICS, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, has dominated the agenda at its three-day summit in Johannesburg and exposed rifts between its members.
China is seeking to rapidly grow the BRICS amid rising competition with the United States but the bloc’s other major power, India, is wary of the intentions of its geopolitical rival.
Nearly two dozen countries have formally applied to join the BRICS, officials say, which accounts for 40 percent of the world’s population and a quarter of the global economy.
The BRICS are a disparate mix of big and small economies, democratic and authoritarian states, but share a collective desire to challenge the Western-led global order they say does not serve their interests or rising clout.
The group operates on consensus and officials said the BRICS leaders were deliberating criteria for admitting new members.
The summit has underlined divisions with the West over the war in Ukraine, and the support Russia enjoys from its other BRICS partners at a time of global isolation.
South Africa, China and India have not condemned Russia’s invasion while Brazil has refused to join Western nations in sending arms to Ukraine or imposing sanctions on Moscow.
Analysts said that in considering new members, Brazil, South Africa and India would have to balance a desire for good ties with China and Russia against the risk of estranging the United States, a major trading partner.
Like the BRICS themselves, the countries applying vary greatly, from G20 giants like Indonesia and Saudi Arabia to isolated states like Iran that are openly hostile to the United States and its allies.
BRICS leaders say the level of interest was proof its message resonated deeply in the “Global South”, a broad term referring to nations outside the West.
Khalil Wakim, with AFP
