Three more countries – Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Turkey – are expected to join BRICS International Forum soon with the possibility to discuss and decide on their membership bids at BRICS Summit next year in South Africa.
The president of the BRICS, Purnima Anand, said that this question was discussed by China, Russia, and India during the 14th BRICS Summit – held online in late June – which believe that the potential expansion will definitely bolster BRICS global influence.
The expansion was first discussed during the 2017 BRICS summit in Xiamen, China, whereby new countries are added to the group as permanent guests/ participants in the dialogue.
She said that the countries that have shown their interest in joining BRICS are already preparing their membership application, which will cut short the accession time, but noted that she doubts all three countries will join the alliance at the same time.
Established in 2006 with an aim to promote peace, security, development, and cooperation globally, among other things, BRICS International Forum – which is a political organization- consists of five emerging economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
They account for over 40% of the global population and nearly a quarter of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP) with $13.6 trillion combined and total foreign exchange reserves of $4 trillion.
South Africa was the last to join the organization in 2010.
Earlier, the Director-General of the Department of International Economic Affairs of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Li Kexin, suggested earlier that several countries, including Indonesia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Argentina, were knocking on the Forum’s doors.
Previously in June, Iran and Argentina officially applied for membership in the organization, an organization that the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh branded a very creative mechanism with broad aspects.
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