UAE, Saudi Arabia Among 6 Countries Invited To Become New BRICS Members

UAE and Saudi Arabia are among the six countries to become BRICS members from January next year.

President of Brazil Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, President of China Xi Jinping, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov pose for a BRICS family photo during the 2023 BRICS Summit at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg.

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South African President and BRICS Chair Cyril Ramaphosa has announced that the group has adopted the Johannesburg Declaration 2, inviting Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE to become full members of the bloc from January 1, 2024.

"We have decided to invite Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and UAE to become full members of BRICS. New members will become part of BRICS with effect from January 1, 2024," Ramaphosa said

"We value the interests of other countries in building partnerships with BRICS. We tasked our foreign ministers to further develop the BRICS partnership model, a list of prospective countries," he added.

Prime Minister Modi said India has always supported BRICS expansion and that it has "deep and historic" ties with those countries who have membership.

A top-ranking official had earlier told ABP Live that the Summit would see some major steps in terms of laying down expansion rules based on which new members would be added to the group. The official had said the leaders were expected to clear decks for Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Argentina to formally join BRICS. It was also said that the expansion would be done in a phased manner. 

Several countries want to join the bloc, with 22 countries officially sending requests so far.

Saudi Arabia's Entry In BRICS 

The entry of Saudi Arabia into BRICS is widely regarded as crucial for the group's sustainability. Riyadh's participation would bring in a member with substantial financial resources, thereby positioning the New Development Bank (NDB) of the bloc as a credible "alternative" to institutions like the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Presently, the China-led NDB, often referred to as the BRICS Bank, maintains a corpus of $50 billion. However, in order to facilitate the financing of large-scale projects within the Global South or developing economies, a significantly larger financial foundation is essential.

BRICS Expansion Message To All Global Institutions: PM Modi

Welcoming the development, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the modernisation and expansion of the grouping is a message that all global institutions need to transform considering the changing times. Addressing the media along with the BRICS leaders in Johannesburg, PM Modi said admitting Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as new members will give new energy and direction to the grouping.

He said India has always fully supported expansion of BRICS and believed that addition of new members will further strengthen the grouping.

"I am happy that our teams have together agreed on guiding principles, standards, criteria and procedures for expansion of BRICS. I am happy that many positive outcomes came out of three days' of deliberations," he said.