Six new nations to be BRICS member from next January

The BRICS group of nations has invited six new countries to join the bloc that has pledged to champion the "Global South". The debate over the expansion of BRICS - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - topped the agenda at the three-day summit in Johannesburg.

While all BRICS members have publicly expressed support for expanding the five-member bloc, reports suggested divisions among the leaders over how much and how quickly.

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa said that Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and UAE have been invited to join the BRICS as part of the first phase of expansion. The new membership will be effective from January 1, 2024.

“As a five BRICS countries, we have reached an agreement on the guiding principles, standards, criteria, and procedures on the BRICS expansion process which has been in discussion for quite a while,” Ramaphosa told a joint media briefing.

“We have consensus on the first phase of this expansion process and other phases will follow.”

“The membership will take effect from the first of January 2024,” he said.