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A TOTAL of 19 countries, including Indonesia, are rumored to be interested in joining BRICS. This was conveyed by South African Ambassador to BRICS Anil Sooklal in an interview on Monday (4/24), 2023, as reported by The Times of India.
BRICS is a cooperation organization between Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. This year, the group will hold a meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, in June.
Sooklal said that the BRICS meeting in South Africa will discuss the expansion of the group. “What will be discussed is the expansion of BRICS and the modalities of how this will happen,” Sooklal said.
“Thirteen countries have formally requested to join and another six have informally requested. We receive proposals to join every day,” he continued.
Talks of BRICS expansion were started by China last year. The initiation was conveyed by China to build diplomatic power to counter the dominance of developed countries.
Sooklal said that the foreign ministers of the five BRICS countries have confirmed that they will attend the meeting in June.
Besides discussing expansion and membership, BRICS will also discuss a number of important issues including the Sudan conflict. In February, Sooklal said that Saudi Arabia and Iran were the countries that formally requested to join BRICS.
Sooklal said countries that have expressed interest in joining BRICS include Argentina, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Algeria, Egypt, Bahrain, and Indonesia.
He also mentioned that there are two countries from East Africa and one from West Africa that also want to join BRICS. [sources/photo special]
