Moscow: Nine new countries are set to become official partners f BRICS from 1st Jan 2025. Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said on Monday, Belarus, Thailand, Cuba, Malaysia, Uganda and Uzbekistan will join the block. After expansion, acronyms BRICS+ reflects new membership.
The organization came into formation in 2001. Its founding members were Brazil, Russia, India and China hence called BRIC. The major focus was on improving the global economic situation and modification of financial institutions. The member nations discussed the better cooperation in the future.
The first expansion was in 2010 when South Africa made efforts to join the group. In August, the formal processing began and on 24 December 2010 it officially joined the block. The block changed its name from BRIC to BRICS. In 2011, South Africa attended summit in Sanya as an official member.
The second phase of expansion began in 2023 at the 15th BRICS Summit. The South African President announced the invitation for six emerging markets. It included Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. However, after election Argentina withdrew the country’s membership and Saudi Arab remained indecisive.
Ushakov reported, “On the eve of the summit (2024) in Kazan, we received 35 applications to join BRICS in one condition or another.” He confirmed that nine countries are officially going to become BRICS partner states from January. “We expect to receive responses in the near future from four other” from the invited counties, Ushakov said in briefing.
Experts see BRICS’ expansion as a part of the plan to include Global South countries to challenge the western-dominated world order. It is competing to build a multipolar world order instead of unipolarity.
