Argentina, Egypt, Iran, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Ethiopia will join the BRICS group — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — starting 2024, President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa said.
Brazil’s news portal UOL previously published a draft list of new BRICS member states which did not include Ethiopia.
UOL wrote that the countries were selected based on geographical and political factors, with preference given to governments that already form part of the G20.
The BRICS states initially planned to include Indonesia on the list, but reconsidered after Jakarta refused to adopt a political stance at this moment. The country may be invited to join BRICS later on, UOL notes.
The annual BRICS summit, the first in-person meeting after the COVID pandemic, is taking place in Johannesburg, South Africa. Russian President Vladimir Putin is the only leader who joined the summit via video link, wary of the pending ICC arrest warrant. Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, arrived in Johannesburg in his stead.
