New Delhi: Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and UAE have been invited to be full members of BRICS, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Thursday, a move that expands the present five-member grouping and strengthens its aim to champion the Global South.
Cyril Ramaphosa, who was stating the three-day BRICS Summit’s outcomes Thursday, said: “As five BRICS countries, we have reached an agreement of the guiding principles, standards criteria and procedures of the BRICS expansion process which has been in discussion for quite a while. We have consensus on the first phase of the expansion process, and other phases will follow.”
#WATCH | President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa announces outcomes of the 15th BRICS Summit, Johannaesburg
"We've reached an agreement to invite Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and UAE to become full members of BRICS. The membership will come into effect from… pic.twitter.com/Qo5B1jcPOW
— ANI (@ANI) August 24, 2023
While he made the announcement, Ramaphosa was flanked by the heads of states of the present members – Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, China’s Xi Jinping and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov – who stood in for premier Vladimir Putin.
The South African President also said the membership of these new entrants would come into effect from January, 2024.
Modi said at this joint address that the expansion and modernisation of BRICS was a message that all world institutions must get accustomed to the changing times. “This is an initiative that can become an example to reform other global institutions established in the 20th Century,” the Prime Minister said. He added that the new members would strengthen BRICS – founded in June 2009 – and give heft to its capabilities.
VIDEO | “I am glad that in this 3-day meeting, a lot of positive results have come out. India has always supported the expansion of members of BRICS,” says PM Modi at the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa.#BRICSSummit2023 pic.twitter.com/SH2RClR1A5
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) August 24, 2023
Before the leaders walked up on stage, Modi and Xi Jinping were seen exchanging a handshake and a brief conversation.
The expansion is expected to lend more clout to the BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – which together represents 42 per cent of the world’s population along with a significant 27 per cent of the global GDP.
The debate over enlargement has topped the agenda at the three-day summit which took place in Johannesburg from 22 to 24 August.
Addressing the summit’s open plenary session Wednesday, Narendra Modi said India fully supported the expansion – pushed largely by China and Russia to make the grouping a counterweight to western powers – but added that there should be full consensus on this.
Chinese President Xi Jinling said in his agreement: “The world… has entered a new period of turbulence and transformation… We, the BRICS countries, should always bear in mind our founding purpose of strengthening ourselves through unity.”
In a recorded statement, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the grouping was on course to meet the aspirations of most of the world’s population.
“We cooperate on the principles of equality, partnership support, respect for each other’s interests, and this is the essence of the future-oriented strategic course of our association, a course that meets the aspirations of the main part of the world community, the so-called global majority,” Putin said.
Putin was unable to attend the summit in person because of an arrest warrant issued for him in March by the International Criminal Court (ICC), accusing him of war crimes in Ukraine.
More than 40 countries have expressed interest in joining BRICS, South African officials have said, and 22 have formally asked to be admitted.
A number of prospective candidates sent delegations to Johannesburg for meetings on Thursday – the last day of the summit – with the bloc’s leaders.
Also read: BRICS set to invite Saudi Arabia to join – Bloomberg News