BRICS pledge to integrate new African countriess – With the 15th BRICS summit approaching, the alliance is set to expand in the near future, with the arrival of several African countries in particular.
Comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, with a contribution of 31.5% of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2023, compared to 30.7% for the G7, the BRICS are considered to be today’s major emerging powers.
Anil Sookal, South Africa’s ambassador to the BRICS, confirmed in an interview on 24 April that thirteen countries had officially applied for membership of the group of emerging economies and said that this announced expansion of the organisation would be the focus of the next BRICS summit, scheduled for 2 and 3 June 2023 in Cape Town, South Africa.
For the moment, only a few names of African countries wishing to join the BRICS have been unveiled, among them Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria, already a member of the BRICS-MNA, Sudan and Zimbabwe. This expansion aims to strengthen the importance of the economic alliance on the international scene.
A strong economic competitor
In 2014, the BRICS launched their own development bank to counteract the current global financial system established after the Second World War by the Bretton Woods Agreement.
The economic giant has been demanding a greater role in global governance bodies and a shift to a multipolar order for several years. Despite a combined economy representing almost 31.5% of the world’s GDP and a population of 3.2 billion, the group has only 15% of the voting rights in the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
However, the potential addition of new members could undeniably reshape the global economic landscape and inherently change the dynamics of the group.
For example, the idea of a BRICS+ raises concerns among member nations about the dilution of their influence, particularly with regard to allies such as China, which has twice the GDP of the other four BRICS countries combined, raising the question of Beijing’s possible dominance within the group.
BRICS pledge to integrate new African countries
