by WorldTribune Staff, August 24, 2023
Saudi Arabia and Iran are among six countries invited to join BRICS as new members next year.
The trading bloc BRICS, an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, has openly stated its desire to replace the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency. With the exception of India, all current BRICS countries are anti-American and authoritarian.
During a three-day summit held in Johannesburg which ended on Thursday, the bloc agreed on “the guiding principles, standards, criteria and procedures of the BRICS expansion process,”, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said.
Along with Saudi Arabia and Iran, Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates were invited to join BRICS as full members beginning on Jan. 1, 2024.
More than 40 countries reportedly expressed interest in joining BRICS, and 23 formally applied to join the block, which already represents a quarter of the global economy and 40 percent of the world’s population.
“Led by Russia and China, the BRICS was founded with the primary mission of replacing Western-built and dominated financial architecture with an alternative, non-Western one and to counter U.S. and Western geopolitical influence,” Rebekah Koffler, president of Doctrine & Strategy Consulting and a former Defense Intelligence Agency officer, told Fox News Digital.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping said on Thursday: “This membership expansion is historic. The expansion is also a new starting point for BRICS cooperation. It will bring new vigor to the BRICS cooperation mechanism and further strengthen the force for world peace and development.”
Facing pushback from the West in the form of sanctions, Russia and China were intent on expanding the bloc, analysts said.
The BRICS expansion is part of the group’s leaders’ plan “to build dominance and reshape global governance into a ‘multipolar’ world order that puts voices of the Global South at the center of the world agenda,” Sumayya Ismail wrote for Al Jazeera.
Mohammad Jamshidi, a senior adviser to Iran’s clerical leadership, wrote on X: “Permanent membership in the group of global emerging economies is considered a historic development and a strategic success for the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic.”
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said: “We look forward to develop this cooperation to create new developmental and economic opportunities and elevate our relationship to the aspired level,”
Later, he told Saudi channel Al Arabiya that the kingdom welcomed the invitation and would review the details in order to make an “appropriate decision” ahead of the proposed joining date.
Please Support Real Journalism
Hello! . . . . Intelligence . . . . Publish
Saudi Arabia, Iran among six nations invited to join anti-Western BRICS alliance added by Editor Two on
View all posts by Editor Two →