Africa-Press – Gambia. In August 2023, six new members were invited to join BRICS, including Argentina, which declined to join in late December. The five new members – Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt – began full work in BRICS on January 1, 2024.
The number of countries wishing to join BRICS is increasing every month, currently more than 40 states are applying to join the association, said the head of the Russian Federation Council Committee on International Affairs Grigory Karasin.
“There are more than 40 countries that have applied to join the BRICS group. And the number of such states is increasing every month. This shows that such a free, flexible form of interaction within BRICS is very attractive,” the senator said at a briefing on the results of the meeting of the chairmen of the international affairs committees of the BRICS parliaments held in Moscow last week.
He noted that many of the BRICS members understand that they should not rush to create a rigid charter for the organization, “seeing how counterproductive and even provocative the European Union is acting.”
“So far, it is justified. So far, the future of BRICS seems very attractive for all its members. That is why so many candidates are ready to join,” Karasin said.
Speaking about the prospects of the development of the BRICS financial settlement system, the head of the committee pointed out that this is an important issue being discussed by the BRICS member countries.
“Many countries have directly asked the question of de-dollarization of the economy, because we pay too much attention to the dollar, while powerful solid powers have their own currencies. The issue is topical,” the senator said.
In addition, when asked whether the organizers of the BRICS summit expect provocations from Western states in connection with Russia’s chairmanship of the bloc this year, Karasin noted that such a probability is taken into account.
“We are accustomed to the fact that anything that does not correspond to the interests of the West is treated with hostility by the media. We will counter this with common sense,” he concluded.
On January 1, Russia took over the chairmanship of the 10-nation BRICS group. The BRICS group has undergone two waves of expansion since its inception in 2006. In 2011, South Africa joined the original membership of Brazil, Russia, India and China. Membership of an additional five countries – Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt- began in 2024.
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