India Makes Huge Announcement About BRICS Expansion
The BRICS alliance invited six new countries to join the bloc during last year’s summit in Johannesburg. The 15th summit in 2023 saw BRICS send invitations for expansion to Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Argentina, Egypt, Iran, and Ethiopia. However, only four out of the six invited countries joined BRICS this year, in 2024. Argentina rejected the BRICS invitation and Saudi Arabia kept the decision to join the group on hold.
The BRICS expansion is a hot topic, as several developing countries want to be a part of the grouping. Many developing nations believe BRICS is the only group that can help their native economies de-dollarize and strengthen their respective local currencies.
India’s Foreign Affairs Minister S Jaishankar confirmed in a latest interview that BRICS is looking at new expansion in 2024. He explained that nearly 30 countries are ready to join the bloc and add something new to the table. The minister said that the desire of new countries to join the BRICS shows the value and usefulness of the bloc.
“We tested it last year in the market, asking how many wanted to join BRICS. We got almost 30 countries that were willing to join BRICS. Clearly, 30 countries saw value in it; there must be something good with that,” he said to ANI.
Therefore, reading between the lines, a new round of BRICS expansion could be on the cards this year, in 2024. The upcoming 16th BRICS summit will be held in October this year in the Kazan region of Russia. Another new round of expansion could be taken at the next BRICS summit this year.
