The South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa has stated that the ongoing summit by the BRICS club of emerging nations will admit six new members, including Saudi Arabia, UAE and Iran, at the start of 2024.
Ramaphosa, in his speech said, “We have decided to invite the Argentine Republic, the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, to become full members of BRICS”.
He announced that the membership will take effect from the first of January 2024.
The BRICS summit opened on Tuesday as the defined club of large emerging economies seeks to assert its voice as a counterweight to the Western-led international order.
The BRICS nations of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa represent a quarter of the global economy, and interest in joining the group surged ahead of its three-day summit in Johannesburg.
But the guiding principles, standards, criteria and procedures of the BRICS expansion process tightens as nearly two dozen countries have formally applied to join the club, which represents a quarter of the global economy and more than three billion people.
Meanwhile, about fifty (50) other Heads of State and Government are attending the summit in Johannesburg, which concludes on Thursday.
