The BRICS alliance invited six new countries to join the bloc during the 15th summit in Johannesburg last year. The six countries that received the BRICS invitation are Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Argentina, Egypt, Iran, and Ethiopia. However, Argentina was the first country to decline the membership as the newly-elected president Javier Milei is skeptical about the bloc. The expansion has now made BRICS into a 9-member bloc leading it to grow financially stronger.
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On the other hand, Saudi Arabia has yet to accept the invitation and is still evaluating the pros and cons of joining BRICS. Read here to know why Saudi Arabia might also reject BRICS membership and downplay the expansion in the coming weeks.
Subsequently, on the heels of the 16th summit in Russia’s Kazan region in October, South Africa’s BRICS ambassador to Russia Mzuvukile Maqetuka made an announcement about another round of possible expansion.
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South Africa’s Ambassador Makes Big Announcement About BRICS Expansion
Maqetuka confirmed that BRICS “will definitely expand further” and an announcement could be made in October 2024. Therefore, another round of BRICS expansion could be a reality this year making the alliance much more stronger financially.
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The BRICS expansion will strengthen developing countries and give them an opportunity to cut ties with the US dollar. Read here to know how many sectors in the US will be affected if BRICS ditched the dollar for trade.
“The question of the BRICS expansion, support or no support, it’s already a given. There will be an announcement of new members, especially from that bloc that have already applied. So there will be expansion in Kazan and but still, there’s no way that all the 11 or 12 or 10 remaining countries will be accepted. No, it will have to be a gradual,” he said to Tass.
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