Thursday, February 1, 2024 – Nearly three dozen countries, Nigeria inclusive are seeking entry into the China and Russia-backed BRICS economic group, member state South Africa said on Wednesday, January 31, weeks after the body expanded its membership for the first time in more than a decade.
“Thirty-four countries have
submitted an expression of interest in joining the bloc of major emerging
economies,” South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor told reporters.
Russia was accepting those applications after assuming the
rotating chairmanship of the group this year and will be the first member to
oversee the body since it added Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates
(UAE), Ethiopia, Iran and Egypt formally.
The growing membership is widely viewed as a win for China
and Russia, which have sought to reshape an international system they see as
unfairly dominated by the United States amid growing frictions with the West.
BRICS, which since 2011 had been made up of Brazil, Russia,
India, China and South Africa, roughly positions itself as the Global South’s
answer to the Group of Seven (G7) major developed economies.
The expansion and continued interest from dozens more
countries are also a boon for Russia, which has been ostracized economically
and diplomatically by the West following its invasion of Ukraine.
Russia’s position as chair will be a key opportunity for
Putin to push back against that isolation and portray himself as a key player
on a broad diplomatic stage, as world leaders typically travel to the host
nation for an annual summit.
Last year, all member state leaders besides Putin gathered
in person in Johannesburg. The Russian president, who has an International
Criminal Court warrant out for his arrest linked to alleged war crimes in
Ukraine, participated virtually.
This year’s event is expected to take place in October in
the southwestern Russian city of Kazan.
.jpg)
0 Comments