The leaders of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) bloc have approved the expansion of the fivenation group by adding Argentina, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and the UAE as its new members, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced today while expressing the hope that the step would strengthen the belief of many nations in a multipolar world order.
“The expansion of BRICS and its modernisation is a clear message that all global institutions need reforms keeping in mind the present day realities.” “This is an initiative which can become a trendsetter for reforms in other global institutions,” he said at a joint Press conference with other BRICS leaders at the end of the three-day 15th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg.
Mr Modi said India has always supported the expansion of BRICS. Its position was that the expansion would further strengthen it as a grouping and provide an impetus to the member nations’ joint efforts in different areas. This is the first expansion of the grouping since 2010 when South Africa was inducted into it. With this expansion, six of the world’s nine largest oil producers are now part of BRICS. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said the membership of the six new BRICS countries would come into force from January 2024.
Others present at the press conference were Chinese President Xi Jinping and Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Mr Modi was happy that the delegations of the five BRICS countries have arrived at a consensus on guiding principles, standards, criteria and procedures for admitting the six new members.
He was confident that the inclusion of these new members into BRICS would infuse new energy into the grouping. Noting that India has close historical relations with all the six countries, he said their inclusion in BRICS would add a new dimension to bilateral cooperation as well. He said India would try to evolve a consensus around those countries which have expressed their interest in joining BRICS as partner nations.