BRICS Summit 2023
September 4, 2017 – Xiamen, Fujian, China – The 9th BRICS Summit kicks off at Xiamen International Conference and Exhibition Center in Xiamen City, southeast China¡¯s Fujian Province, Sept. 4, 2017. Chinese President Xi Jinping chaired the summit. Brazilian President Michel Temer, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, South African President Jacob Zuma attended the summit. Image: GCIS

Home » BRICS bloc: 22 nations seek to join as summit approaches

BRICS bloc: 22 nations seek to join as summit approaches

Twenty-two countries from around the globe have applied to join the BRICS bloc and more have shown interest, South Africa said Thursday, ahead of the five-nation group’s summit next month. ALSO READ: BREAKING: Vladimir Putin will NOT attend BRICS Summit in SA BRICS, a loosely-defined group which sees itself as a counterweight to Western economic domination, derives its […]

21-07-23 11:56
BRICS Summit 2023
September 4, 2017 – Xiamen, Fujian, China – The 9th BRICS Summit kicks off at Xiamen International Conference and Exhibition Center in Xiamen City, southeast China¡¯s Fujian Province, Sept. 4, 2017. Chinese President Xi Jinping chaired the summit. Brazilian President Michel Temer, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, South African President Jacob Zuma attended the summit. Image: GCIS

Twenty-two countries from around the globe have applied to join the BRICS bloc and more have shown interest, South Africa said Thursday, ahead of the five-nation group’s summit next month.

ALSO READ: BREAKING: Vladimir Putin will NOT attend BRICS Summit in SA

BRICS, a loosely-defined group which sees itself as a counterweight to Western economic domination, derives its name from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The bloc has previously indicated it is open to expansion.

“Twenty-two countries have formally approached BRICS countries to become (a) full member of BRICS, there’s an equal number of countries that have been informally asking about becoming BRICS members,” South Africa’s ambassador-at-large for Asia and the BRICS, Anil Sooklal, told media in Johannesburg.

He listed Iran, Argentina, Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia among nations that have expressed an interest.

Growing interest in the bloc is not new but reflects the “confidence” in the work that BRICS has been “championing” over nearly a decade and a half, he said.

ALSO READ: Nigeria: Army reinforces security in troubled central state

BRICS

BRICS is not only “a power force … in trying to change the faultlines in terms of global politics, but it is also changing what is happening in the economic space globally,” he said.

“The current global architecture continues to be unequal, continues to marginalise developing countries… and continues to be dominated by a few hegemons. We don’t want such a world. We want a world where our voices are heard,” he told AFP.

South Africa will host the BRICS summit in Johannesburg between August 22-24 to which a total of 69 countries have been invited, including all African states.

ALSO READ: Putin opts for virtual BRICS summit amid ICC warrant

French leader Emmanuel Macron has asked to attend the summit but no decision has been reached yet on that request.

“BRICS is a consensus entity, it’s not South Africa’s decision alone, this has to be consulted,” said Sooklal, adding that Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor “is busy with that process”.

“There is high interest in the summit,” said Sooklal.

ALSO READ: Vladimir Putin will not attend BRICS summit in South Africa

Formally launched in 2009, BRICS now accounts for 23 percent of global GDP and 42 percent of the world’s population, according to the summit’s website.

sn/ri

© Agence France-Presse