India Welcomes Egypt, Iran, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia Joining BRICS

India on June 10, wholeheartedly welcomed Egypt, Iran, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia joining the BRICS as their representatives attended for the first time a key meeting of the grouping hosted by Russia. Senior diplomat Dammu Ravi led the Indian delegation at the BRICS Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Nizhny Novgorod, in western Russia.

About BRICS

BRICS is an intergovernmental organization comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates. Originally identified to highlight investment opportunities, the grouping evolved into a cohesive geopolitical bloc, with their governments meeting annually at formal summits and coordinating multilateral policies since 2009. Bilateral relations among BRICS are conducted mainly on the basis of non-interference, equality, and mutual benefit.

• It currently represents around 40 percent of the world’s population and more than a quarter of the world’s GDP, although that is set to increase with the new members, which include three of the world’s biggest oil producers in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Iran.

About BRICS Summit 2024

In August 2023, at the 15th BRICS Summit, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that 6 emerging market group countries (Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates) had been invited to join the bloc. Full membership was scheduled to take effect on 1 January 2024. However, the Argentine general election in November 2023 led to a change in president to Javier Milei, who had committed to withdraw the country’s membership application. On 30 November 2023, incoming Foreign Minister of Argentina Diana Mondino confirmed that Argentina would not join the BRICS. On 29 December 2023 the Government of Argentina sent a letter to all BRICS leaders to officially announce its withdrawal from the application process.

Participatory members in the Summit

• Mohammad Jamshidi, the political deputy of Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi, called the decision to add his country “a historic move.” “A strategic victory for Iran’s foreign policy,” Jamshidi wrote on X, the website formerly known as Twitter. “Felicitations to the Supreme Leader of Islamic Revolution and great nation of Iran.”
• South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, whose country presently chairs BRICS, made the announcement on the six new members on the final day of the bloc’s summit in the financial district of Sandton in Johannesburg.
• Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
• Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and
• Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the summit and were present alongside Ramaphosa for the announcement.
• Egypt President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi said in a statement that his country would cooperate and coordinate with the rest of the members to achieve the bloc’s aims in economic cooperation, and to “raise the voice of the Global South.”