News MENA South Africa: Saudi Arabia, UAE, Ethiopia, Iran and Egypt set to join BRICS

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South Africa: Saudi Arabia, UAE, Ethiopia, Iran and Egypt set to join BRICS

South African FM Naledi Pandor says countries such as Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia have confirmed their membership to the bloc

MENA

3 min read

Delegates from the BRICS intergovernmental organisation in the Qatari capital of Doha on Dec 10 2023 [Getty]

Five of the six countries invited to join the BRICS bloc of nations from 1 January have confirmed they are joining, South African foreign minister Naledi Pandor said on Wednesday.

Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE have officially joined the bloc of emerging economies, after being invited last year. This is the first time the body has expanded its membership in over a decade.

The five countries were invited - along with Argentina -  to join the bloc comprising Brazil, Russia, China, India and South Africa at a summit in August in Johannesburg.

"With respect to the BRICS confirmations, five out of the six have confirmed. That is Saudi Arabia, UAE, Ethiopia, Iran ... and Egypt," Pandor told a news conference on Wednesday.

"Argentina has written to indicate that they will not act on this successful application by the previous administration to become full members of BRICS, and we accept their decision."

Members say the move would help reshuffle a world order they view as outdated and has been seen as some as a challenge to US-EU "hegemony". 

Argentina has since declined the invitation to join, following the election of ultra-right-wing Javier Milei into power.

Without naming the countries, Pandor added that thirty-four countries had also expressed their interest in joining the BRICS. 

The addition of oil-producing Gulf nations to the bloc comes as sanctions-hit Iran boosts ties with Russia and China.

Tehran and Riyadh agreed to end an ongoing diplomatic rift and re-open embassies in a surprise deal facilitated by China last year. 

Last month, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan confirmed Riyadh was joining and said the BRICS group was "a beneficial and important channel" to strengthen economic cooperation.

Egypt’s membership in the economic bloc was also officially activated in January. 

"By joining the BRICS, Egypt is believed to have been trying to alleviate the dominance of the US dollar in the North African country’s economy amid an unforgiving economic crisis triggered by internal and external factors such as the currency devaluation and the Israeli war on the neighbouring Palestinian Gaza Strip," financial analyst Ahmed Hamouda said in a previous interview with The New Arab.    

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The wrong BRICS expansion

Perspectives

Daron Acemoglu

The expansion of the BRICS could strengthen the bloc's declared ambition to become a champion of the Global South, with greater financial and diplomatic coordination.

This includes plans to build a payment system without the use of the US dollar and reforming the United Nations Security Council.

The foreign minister said the latest developments serve to "redress what we regard as a rather unfair and costly payment system".

Reuters has also contributed to this piece.