BRICS PLUS
West underestimates BRICS' resolve for solidarity, cooperation, Saudi Arabia eyes world stage after BRICS invitation, A Wall of BRICS, Ethiopia hails BRICS, Saudi Arabia ‘appreciates’ BRICS invitation
UPDATE: On August 24 local time, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced at the BRICS Summit special press conference that six countries of Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirate were invited to join the group.
Oil power Saudi Arabia's entry to the BRICS group of nations highlights its ambitious drive to become a heavyweight on the global stage, creating a counter to its decades-old alliance with the United States, once seen as ironclad.
This has geo-economic, geostrategic and geopolitical implications,” The latest additions will push some BRICS nations to think more about their Middle East policies, and for China and India to beef-up their existing policies.
Ethiopia's admission to the Brics, a bloc of emerging countries that until now has included Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, is a "high point" for Africa's second most populous country, rejoiced its Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Thursday.
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia appreciates an invitation by BRICS to join the group and would study the details before the proposed Jan. 1 joining date, the Kingdom’s foreign minister said on Thursday. Speaking to Al-Arabiya, Prince Faisal bin Farhan said the Kingdom would take “the appropriate decision” regarding the matter.
West underestimates BRICS' resolve for solidarity, cooperation
By Global Times
On August 24 local time, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced at the BRICS Summit special press conference that six countries of Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirate were invited to join the group. The much-anticipated list of BRICS expansion was thus revealed. The number of BRICS cooperation mechanism will increase from five to 11 in one step, exceeding expectations. This is a significant step for the BRICS cooperation mechanism and a major step for global governance. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed stated that for Ethiopia, this is "a great moment."
Before the official expansion, many countries were eager to knock on the door of the BRICS, and 23 countries formally applied, which is a very rare scene in various multilateral cooperation mechanisms. The six new members who have been invited to join come from Asia, Africa, and Latin America. They are all regional countries with a certain scale and important influence. With their participation, the representativeness and influence of the BRICS cooperation mechanism will further increase, making it one of the largest representative organizations for emerging markets and developing countries to actively participate in global governance. It has great potential for promoting the development of global governance in a more just and fair direction.
The solidarity and consensus demonstrated by the leaders of the five countries participating in this BRICS Summit on core issues such as expansion have left a deep impression. Before the summit, many Western media outlets said that there were obvious differences within the BRICS regarding expansion and even said that China and Russia supported expansion while India, Brazil, and South Africa were reluctant. Their reports were full of instigation, claiming that China wanted to turn the BRICS into a platform to expand its influence and balance the West, attempting to interfere with cooperation among BRICS members. However, they clearly underestimated the determination of the BRICS members and other developing countries to unite and cooperate.
The leaders of India, Brazil, and South Africa all clearly expressed "full support" for expansion during the summit. The final outcome indisputably demonstrated the consensus of the five countries. It was not at all what the Western media had portrayed. Their biased speculation and provocation turned into sharp irony directed at themselves. The reversal and stark contrast over this matter have been particularly prominent in recent years, revealing the extent of the Western elites' misguided interpretations and misjudgments of the non-Western world. Often, with a single utterance from Western politicians and media, we already know what they're going to say, showing how even many ordinary people in the non-Western world can see through their narrative and logic. This is an artificially created asymmetrical global division.
Chinese President Xi Jinping mentioned the key word "solidarity" in his multiple speeches during the BRICS summit this time. At the press conference on Thursday, Xi stated that this expansion is historic and reflects the resolution of the BRICS countries to unite and cooperate with other developing countries. He called on BRICS members to work together to write a new chapter of solidarity and cooperation among emerging markets and developing countries for development. The day before, Xi delivered an important speech titled "Seeking Development through Solidarity and Cooperation and Shouldering Our Responsibility for Peace." Solidarity is strength, especially for developing countries.
Within the BRICS cooperation mechanism, whether China and India can overcome and transcend bilateral differences, disparities, and disputes to form a unified stance is considered by many to be a key factor in the effective functioning of BRICS. Meanwhile, this has also been used by Western countries as one of the reasons to doubt BRICS or as a leverage point to undermine it. Over the course of 17 years, BRICS hasn't been dissolved, but has instead continued to grow and strengthen. This undoubtedly demonstrates the successful coordination and consensus between China and India within the BRICS framework. They have not played into the script prepared by the West to counteract or hinder each other. These two ancient civilizations have displayed strategic breadth, seeking common ground while preserving differences, converging similarities while managing differences, and together constructing a cooperative and mutually beneficial global partnership. The atmosphere of solidarity and cooperation exemplified by the BRICS cooperation mechanism has also influenced more and more countries.
During the South Africa BRICS Summit, India's "Chandrayaan-3" probe successfully landed on the moon's South Pole. This achievement brought pride and jubilation to the entire India, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi stating that "this success belongs to all of humanity." The Chinese people also agree with this. Meanwhile, China is also exploring the establishment of a "BRICS Global Remote Sensing Satellite Data and Application Cooperation Platform," utilizing advanced technology in areas like agriculture, ecology, and disaster reduction. These endeavors also belong to all of humanity.
As long as the spirit of BRICS is upheld, opportunities for cooperation and progress can be found everywhere. As more like-minded developing countries join BRICS, a stronger collective force will form, emitting a more resounding "BRICS voice," driving the world toward good governance.
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Saudi Arabia eyes world stage after BRICS invitation
By Economic Times of India
Oil power Saudi Arabia's entry to the BRICS group of nations highlights its ambitious drive to become a heavyweight on the global stage, creating a counter to its decades-old alliance with the United States, once seen as ironclad.
The kingdom anticipates more cooperation with BRICS nations, its foreign minister said on Thursday, after the group invited Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Iran, Egypt and Argentina to join.
Saudi Arabia, one of the most powerful and influential Arab states, and its neighbour the UAE, have increasingly pursued their own paths after concerns that the U.S. is less committed to the strategic region's security.
"We're seeing Saudi disregarding U.S. interests in several areas: the Saudi-Russian oil market partnership, in Riyadh's tightening relationship with China, and in the kingdom's spate of refusals to crank up oil production when Washington asks," said Jim Krane, research fellow at Rice University's Baker Institute in Houston.
"It's been a long time now since Saudi Arabia emerged from under the U.S. shadow and the kingdom has been charting an increasingly nonaligned path that puts it at odds with U.S. interests."
China, Saudi Arabia's biggest oil customer, has led calls to expand the emerging market powers bloc - until now made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - to become a counterweight to the West.
Underscoring shifting geopolitics, Saudi Arabia hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping for a visit in December after U.S. President Joe Biden failed on a trip to the kingdom to convince it to boost oil output to tame high U.S. gasoline prices.
Krane said pricing oil in non-dollar currencies was Washington's biggest worry.
"China has been pressing Saudi Arabia to price oil in renminbi for some time," he said. "The Biden administration is pursuing this issue within the Abraham Accords framework. So the kingdom appears to be in the enviable position of "balancing" between Beijing and Washington, going with whichever side offers the biggest prize."
The Abraham Accords were U.S.-brokered deals that normalised ties between Israel and Gulf states the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
"The leadership sees BRICS as one of the important groupings that merits greater attention from Riyadh, given the importance of China/India in the global order," said Ayham Kamel, Middle East and North Africa head at Eurasia Group.
However, Riyadh is not exclusively focused on BRICs and is looking at G20 and other forums as key for Saudi Arabia’s strategy of increasing its geopolitical influence."
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‘A wall of BRICS’: The significance of adding six new members to the bloc
By Sumayya Ismail (Al Jazeera)
Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have been invited to join as full members from January 1 next year. The bloc, which was formed in 2009 with Brazil, Russia, India and China, first expanded to admit South Africa in 2010.
Now, it is says it is seeking to grow a stronger coalition of developing nations who can better put the interests of the Global South on the world’s agenda. Before the start of its annual summit in South Africa this week, more than 40 countries had expressed interest in joining BRICS, and 23 formally applied to join.
“We appreciate the considerable interest shown by countries of the Global South in membership of BRICS,” the bloc said in the Johannesburg II declaration it adopted on the final day of the summit on Thursday.
It said the six were selected after “BRICS countries reached consensus on the guiding principles, standards, criteria and procedures of the BRICS expansion process” – but did not provide more details about the specific criteria.
With the inclusion of Saudi Arabia, Iran, UAE and Egypt, “you could argue it’s very Middle East centric”, according to Sanusha Naidu, a senior research fellow at the Institute for Global Dialogue, a South African think tank focusing on China and Africa.
“This has geo-economic, geostrategic and geopolitical implications,” Naidu argued, saying the latest additions will push some BRICS nations to think more about their Middle East policies, and for China and India to beef the existing policies.
Week in the Middle East
China recently brokered the re-establishment of ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran, a role that would traditionally have been filled by a country like the United States.
India’s recently signed an agreement with the UAE to trade in Indian rupees and Emirati dirhams instead of in the US dollar.
Crucially, Naidu argued, the expansion list is “very energy centric”, adding that following the announcement, some analysts at the venue even facetiously commented if they should “call it BRICS plus OPEC?”.
When selecting new members, the bloc may have taken into consideration the pricing of energy products, and how their countries can reduce their liability and vulnerability in terms of the cost of oil, she said.
“Besides Russia, all of [the core BRICS countries] are non-energy producing countries. They need to be able to make their economies function, but they don’t want to get caught in the secondary collateral damage of sanctions,” she explained.
The use of “unilateral sanctions” against countries and the continued dominance of the US dollar in global trade is something BRICS has vocally challenged.
The expansion “opens up new avenues for trade”, said Karin Costa Vasquez, a non-resident senior fellow at the Center for China and Globalization in Beijing.
One of the aims behind the planned expansion is “creating opportunities for BRICS nations to trade more easily with one another using local currencies”, Vasquez added
“This shift could increase the potential for using currencies other than the US dollar, particularly by creating a network of countries that enhances the utility of their respective currencies.”
Inclusion
Analysts have said that one of the countries that could benefit from a trading regime outside of dollar dominance is Iran.
“Iran will clearly benefit the most,” said Na’eem Jeenah, a senior researcher at the South African think tank, Mapungupwe Institute for Strategic Reflection.
He said its inclusion “highlights the fact that it’s not as politically isolated as the US wants it to be”.
Inclusion could also be an “economic lifeline” due to increased bilateral trade.
“Members would start trading with each other in their own currencies. For Iran, this would be great,” he said.
Jeenah added that Argentina was a “shoe-in” as its inclusion was championed by Brazil, China and India. Among the African states, he said analysts expected Algeria, which has oil reserves, or Nigeria, which is the continent’s most populous country and leading economy, could have been included.
Cheta Nwanze, a partner at SBM Intelligence, a geopolitical advisory that focuses on West Africa, said of Nigeria’s exclusion, “I think it’s an indictment of our foreign policy, or the lack of it thereof. We used to be very pan-African in our foreign policy, that has changed”.
“One thing that is very clear is that most of the rest of Africa – with the exception of maybe Nigeria and Kenya – are moving away from the West and towards the East. We are sticking in the Western camp without saying it explicitly, but more importantly without getting any benefits from being in the Western camp,” he told Al Jazeera.
Jeenah said the inclusion of Ethiopia, a country with one of the fastest-growing economies, that also hosts the headquarters of the African Union, “makes sense in those terms”.
Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are similar to India and, to some degree, South Africa, in that “these are countries that have one foot in BRICS and another foot in the West”, Jeenah said.
But Saudi Arabia, in particular, is “positioning” itself in a way that shows it is not just in the American camp.
“They have other options now and are going to leverage these options,” he said, such as the China-brokered agreement to restore ties with Iran.
‘Your problems are not our problems’
Analysts have remained undecided on what an expanded BRICS says to the West and means for the current global order, however.
“The grouping now represents a larger share of the world’s population and economy. However, this only means that the group is potentially a powerful voice for reform of the arrangements for global governance and a powerful actor in these arrangements,” Bradlow said.
“Whether it actually becomes such a voice will depend on whether the expanded group is more effective than the BRICS have been in forging agreements on how the arrangements for global governance should be reformed and how they can more effectively serve the interests of the whole Global South.”
Naidu noted that “having Iran in the BRICS sends a massive powerful message to the G7, to the Global North, to Washington”.
“It says, ‘You can have a problem with them, we’ll keep them here.’ And it also says, ‘Your problems are not our problems.’”
She remarked that South Africa, which has important ties with the US, may have to deal with the “fallout” and navigate some of these tensions. But she also wondered whether the country could use the fact that it is in the bloc to its advantage.
“Yes, they don’t have the economic muscle to do what they want to do, but they have the strategic muscle to say ‘I have the BRICS behind me now, I have a wall of BRICS.’”
Jeenah said, “We must be careful about attributing more importance to this expansion development than it actually has … it certainly does not make BRICS into a Global South front. It’s just a club of 11 members.”
However, he added that, as yet, BRICS has not been trying act as a political forum, but that could change.
“More scary [for the West] than the six who were chosen is that 40 expressed interest in joining,” he said. “BRICS is engaging in incremental expansion … So where does it go in 30 years time?
“While hype of de-dollarisation isn’t on the horizon, the fact is that in a few years time, two of three largest economies in the world could be trading with each other within the [BRICS] bloc without the US dollar, that would be cause for some concern.”
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Ethiopian Prime Minister hails BRICS membership
By Africanews
Ethiopia's admission to the Brics, a bloc of emerging countries that until now has included Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, is a "high point" for Africa's second most populous country, rejoiced its Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Thursday.
Meeting at their summit in Johannesburg, the Brics, which aim to increase their influence in the world, announced on Thursday that they would welcome six new members in January: Iran, Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
"An important moment for Ethiopia, the Brics leaders accepted our entry into the group today. Ethiopia stands ready to cooperate with all for an inclusive and prosperous world order," wrote Abiy Ahmed on his X (ex-Twitter) account.
"Congratulations to all Ethiopians!" also read the X account of the Ethiopian Prime Minister's office.
Traditionally non-aligned, Ethiopia maintains close ties with Russia and China - its main trading partner - but also with the United States, even if relations with Washington became strained during the two-year conflict in the Tigray region (northern Ethiopia), which ended in November 2022.
Ethiopia was one of the world's most dynamic economies during the 2010 decade, but its growth was curbed by the Covid-19 pandemic, climatic calamities, the conflict in Tigray and the global shockwave of the war in Ukraine.
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Saudi Arabia ‘appreciates’ BRICS invitation
By Arab News
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia appreciates an invitation by BRICS to join the group and would study the details before the proposed Jan. 1 joining date, the Kingdom’s foreign minister said on Thursday. Speaking to Al-Arabiya, Prince Faisal bin Farhan said the Kingdom would take “the appropriate decision” regarding the matter.
The foreign minister added that BRICS was “a beneficial and important channel” to strengthen economic cooperation.
Earlier on Thursday, Prince Faisal said the Kingdom is looking forward to developing more cooperation with BRICS nations.
“We look forward to developing this cooperation to create new developmental and economic opportunities and elevate our relationship to the aspired level,” Prince Faisal told the BRICS summit in Johannesburg.
Saudi Arabia stresses the importance of activating collective and multilateral action, he said, and his country is keen to exercise its responsibilities to sustain international cooperation within BRICS.
Prince Faisal also said the Kingdom will also continue to be a reliable source of energy and had the tools to maintain stable energy markets.
The BRICS group of nations decided at a summit this week in Johannesburg to invite six countries – Argentina, Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – to become new members of the bloc, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Thursday.
BRICS membership of new countries will take effect on Jan. 1, 2024, said Ramaphosa.
Leaders from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) have agreed to expand their group, which would be the first expansion since 2010.
UAE President Mohamed Bin Zayed praised the decision to include his country in BRICS.
In a statement, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi thanked BRICS leaders for inviting his country to join the group, vowing to work with other members for the benefit of developing countries.
“We look forward to coordinate with BRICS to achieve the group’s goals in supporting economic cooperation and raise the voice of countries in the south regarding different challenges that we face,” he said.
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali hailed his country’s accession to the bloc as a ‘great moment’ for his country.
“Ethiopia stands ready to cooperate with all for an inclusive and prosperous global order,” he said.
A senior adviser to Iran’s president on Thursday hailed the country’s forthcoming admission to the BRICS grouping as a triumph of diplomacy for the Islamic republic.
Thursday’s announcement came amid intensified diplomacy by Iran to reduce its isolation, improve its economy and offset the impact of crippling sanctions reimposed after the 2018 withdrawal of the United States from a landmark nuclear deal.
“Permanent membership in the group of global emerging economies is considered a historic development and a strategic success for the foreign policy of the Islamic republic,” Mohammad Jamshidi wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
A “new scenario” opens for Argentina with the South American country’s invitation to join the BRICS group of developing nations, President Alberto Fernandez said on Thursday.
Fernandez added that joining the bloc would be a “great opportunity” to strengthen the nation, which has been in economic crisis with a weakened currency, dried-up foreign reserves and spiraling inflation.
Argentina wanted to join BRICS because of the bloc's geopolitical and financial importance during a difficult global context, Fernandez said in a speech.
“We open up our possibilities of joining new markets, of consolidating existing markets, of raising investment coming in, of creating jobs and raising imports,” he said.
The expansion could also pave the way for dozens of interested countries seeking admission to BRICS at a time when geopolitical polarization is spurring efforts by Beijing and Moscow to forge it into a viable counterweight to the West.
Brazil’s President Luiz Lula da Silva, who joined the Johannesburg summit, said that Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Ethiopia and the UAE have all shown interest to join BRICS.
Russia’s Vladimir Putin hailed BRICS membership expansion and said work with new members should start immediately.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi meanwhile said the new members to BRICS will further strengthen and give shared efforts a new impetus.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said BRICS are all nations with important influence, shouldering important responsibilities for world peace and development.
The debate over enlargement has topped the agenda at the three-day summit taking place in Johannesburg. And while all BRICS members publicly expressed support for growing the bloc, there were divisions among the leaders over how much and how quickly.
Though home to about 40 percent of the world’s population and a quarter of global gross domestic product, BRICS members’ failure to settle on a coherent vision for the bloc has long left it punching below its weight as a global political and economic player.
More than 40 countries have expressed interest in joining BRICS, say South African officials, and 22 have formally asked to be admitted.
They represent a disparate pool of potential candidates motivated largely by a desire to level a global playing field many consider rigged against them and attracted by BRICS’ promise to rebalance the global order.
– With Agencies
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