- At the 15th BRICS Summit currently underway in Johannesburg, leaders have announced that six nations will be added to the geopolitical group.
- Rumoured for some time, new members include Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
- The member states will officially join as of 1st January 2024.
This morning’s BRICS Summit session may have been one of the most important in the repeat event’s 15-time history as an expansion has officially been confirmed. This as six nations will be joining the current member states as part of the BRICS expansion, per SA News.
The six nations are set to officially join the BRICS geopolitical group as of 1st January 2024, with the countries being Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The addition of Saudi Arabia is perhaps the least unexpected of the six, given that the country’s leadership has signalled its desire to join in the past.
During the first few days of the Summit, leaders weighed in on their thoughts about a BRICS expansion, noting that they were very much in favour of such a process, especially as the geopolitical group appears to be growing in power and influence compared to the Global West.
“India fully supports the expansion of BRICS membership and welcomes moving forward based on this consensus,” noted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday, following the successful Moon landing of his country’s space agency this week.
“Together, with all BRICS partners, we’ll continue to actively build and make this new definition meaningful,” he added.
Now that growth will include six more nations, with two in particular holding the kind of power and influence that certain BRICS countries currently do.
In the coming years, it will be interesting what South Africa’s role in the expanded BRICS will be, especially as we look for more assistance when it comes to tackling our ongoing energy crisis.
Another question, although a little less important, is what the expanded version of BRICS will be called, as the countries set to join will likely want their initials integrated too. Either way, the geopolitical landscape is set to change significantly on the back of this week’s Summit.
[Image – CC BY-ND 2.0 GovernmentZA on Flickr]
