BRICS has officially expanded its alliance, admitting Nigeria and 12 other nations as partner countries, though not as full members.
The announcement was made during the BRICS summit, held in Kazan, Russia, from October 22 to 24, 2024.
The 2024 summit, themed “Strengthening Multilateralism for Fair Global Development and Security,” marked the sixteenth annual gathering of the bloc, with a focus on enhancing economic integration with key emerging nations.
A post on X (former Twitter) from the bloc on Thursday read, “BRICS officially adds 13 new nations to the alliance as partner countries (not full members).”
The countries are Algeria, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.
BRICS, originally an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, and China, expanded in 2010 to include South Africa, thus forming BRICS.
The group has since added Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates as full members earlier in 2024, all of whom attended this year’s summit as full participants.
The organisation aims to foster trade, investment, development, security, and cooperation among leading emerging market economies.
Nigeria’s inclusion as a partner country aligns with previous statements in November 2023 by Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar, who expressed the country’s intention to join BRICS as a full member within the next two years, leveraging its large economy and population.
Putin presides over BRICS summit seeking to expand Russia’s clout
Russian President Vladimir Putin has presided over a closing session of a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, hailing its role as a counterbalance to the West
At the closing of the summit Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed its role as a counterbalance to the West.
The three-day summit in the city of Kazan covered the deepening of financial cooperation, including the development of alternatives to Western-dominated payment systems, as well as settling regional conflicts and moving to expand the BRICS group of countries.
During Thursday’s session, which included countries that consider joining the grouping, Putin said they all “share similar aspirations and values and a vision of new democratic global order.”
The summit was attended by 36 countries, highlighting the failure of U.S.-led efforts to isolate Russia over its actions in Ukraine. The Kremlin touted the summit as “the largest foreign policy event ever held” by Russia.
Russia has specifically pushed for the creation of a new payment system that would offer an alternative to the global bank messaging network SWIFT and allow Moscow to dodge Western sanctions and trade with partners.
In a joint declaration issued Wednesday, the summit participants voiced concern about “the disruptive effect of unlawful unilateral coercive measures, including illegal sanctions” and reiterated their commitment to enhancing financial cooperation within BRICS. They noted the benefits of “faster, low-cost, more efficient, transparent, safe and inclusive cross-border payment instruments built upon the principle of minimizing trade barriers and non-discriminatory access.”
China’s President Xi Jinping emphasized the bloc’s role in ensuring global security. Xi noted that China and Brazil have put forward a peace plan for Ukraine and sought to rally broader international support for it. Ukraine has rejected the proposal.
Putin and Xi had announced a “no-limits” partnership weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. They already met twice earlier this year, in Beijing in May and at a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Kazakhstan in July.
Russia’s cooperation with India has also flourished as New Delhi sees Moscow as a time-tested partner since Cold War times despite Russia’s close ties with India’s main rival, China. While Western allies want India to be more active in persuading Moscow to end the fighting in Ukraine, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has avoided condemning Russia while emphasizing a peaceful settlement.
Putin, who held a series of bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the summit, was set to meet Thursday with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who is making his first visit to Russia in more than two years. Guterres’s trip to Kazan has drawn an angry reaction from kyiv.
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