Nearly 20 countries on list of potential candidates, says Sergey Ryabkov
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that more and more countries are working towards joining the BRICS bloc. With nearly 20 candidates currently in the pipeline, current member states will decide how to organize the expansion, he said.
The BRICS started as an informal club of non-Western developing countries, “Playing an increasingly important role on the international stage,” The diplomat told TASS news agency on Thursday.
Ryabkov added that the group rejects the idea that some countries should lead others, instead setting its agenda based on consensus.
The group currently includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa as full members, but a number of other countries have applied to join. These include Türkiye, Mexico, Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, among others.
Ryabkov said members were still discussing exactly how the BRICS expansion would happen and what criteria, if any, candidates would have to meet. He noted that South Africa was not a founding member but had been invited to join in 2010 without preconditions.
“I believe strong candidates, and there are many of them, can also turn to this experience when they predict what will and won’t happen in their situation,” Russian officials suggested.
The group is likely to introduce a framework for admitting new members ahead of the August summit in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The BRICS group is committed to building financial infrastructure for international trade and development projects that will not rely on institutions influenced by the United States and other Western powers.
Among other things, the member states advocate replacing the dollar in bilateral trade.America has “Weaponization” BRICS officials say China controls the global reserve currency to impose unilateral economic sanctions to achieve its geopolitical goals.
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