How new Brics members were chosen

A careful balancing act allowing Brics founding countries to motivate for the inclusion of new members led to the first phase of the expansion of the group, which concluded with invitations to six new countries to join the bloc.

However, many people have questioned the criteria that were used to select the six, after more than 50 countries applied to be members before the summit.

Some political analysts have warned that the inclusion of the new members could be a recipe for disaster as some of the countries are in conflict with each other.

The inclusion of Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia was the start of more countries to be co-opted into Brics which initially had Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa as members.

Despite the six countries being part of a group which had applied for membership, City Press understands that each of the founding member states played a major role in motivating for their preferred countries to be part of the bloc.

Brics is also working on a plan to expand the bloc when Russia assumes the chair position in 2024, with more African and South American countries waiting in the lobby to be admitted

The current chairperson of Brics, President Cyril Ramaphosa, announced the expansion of the bloc without divulging the details of the criteria followed or met in the process.

Brazil apparently motivated for Argentina to be included. Brazilian President Lula da Silva was the first to welcome Argentina after the announcement. Da Silva said he was happy to welcome his neighbours into Brics. He also called the president of Argentina his brother who would bring great value to Brics.

Brazil

President of Brazil Lula da Silva apparently motivated for Argentina to be included in the block is posing for pictures with President of China Xi Jinping, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg

President of Brazil Lula da Silva apparently motivated for Argentina to be included in the block is posing for pictures with President of China Xi Jinping, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg

After playing a big role to broker a working relationship between Iran and Saudi Arabia, China decided to motivate for the two countries to be included.

According to insiders, China did not want to motivate one country over the other because it would be seen as taking sides while it was trying to ensure that the two countries repaired their broken relationship

Chinese President Xi Jinping was reported to have personally taken the initiative to help persuade the leaders of Saudi Arabia and Iran to restore diplomatic ties earlier this year.

The intervention by China resulted in Iran and Saudi Arabia agreeing to end their diplomatic rift and reopen diplomatic missions in March.

Declaration

In its declaration, Brics welcomed there-establishment of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran and emphasised that de-escalating tensions and managing differences through dialogue and diplomacy were critical to peaceful coexistence in this strategically important region of the world

Russia is said to have suggested the inclusion of the UAE into the bloc, while South Africa is believed to have gone with the north African countries, citing their geographical location.

Insiders added that, due to the ongoing conflict between Ethiopia and Egypt over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, the bloc felt that choosing one country over the other was a risk that would deepen the crisis.

A source said: Despite all this, the heads of state of the five countries will be putting more focus on Africa in the next few months, in a bid to stabilise the continent. Both China and Russia have pledged to invest heavily in Africa because they are concerned about the imbalances caused by the past

Da Silva said the addition of six new member states meant that the global purchasing power of the Brics countries was now greater than that of the G7 countries.

According to Da Silva, the G7 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US) account for 30% of global purchases, but the Brics countries now account for 37%

Saudi Arabia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates, along with Russia, are also among the top 10 countries in terms of the largest oil reserves. Almost 40% of the world’s oil reserves now belong to Brics countries.

The expansion of Brics is seen as a victory for Xi Jinping, while Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reportedly been wary of allowing countries that have good ties with China to join the bloc.-Fin24