Starting this Monday, January 1, 2024, the group previously composed of South Africa, Brazil, Russia, India and China will transform and welcome new members with the accession of Egypt, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Iran .
Published on: 01/01/2024 – 01:35
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The decision was made at the Johannesburg Summit in August 2023. To everyone's surprise, the “Club of Five” managed to agree not only on the criteria for admitting new members, but also on the countries that should be remembered , reminds our correspondent in Johannesburg. Claire Bargeles.
However, instead of six new participants, there are only five, as the new President of Argentina, Javier Milei, wants an ideological repositioning and refuses to allow his country, which was initially invited to join the bloc, to enter into such an alliance.
Reinventing the financial system
Strengthening the group, which now represents nearly half of the world's population and nearly a third of the planet's GDP, should allow it to continue calling for a multipolar world and a fairer international order.
The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank still rely largely on the dollar. And China, for example, the world's second largest economy, does not have a voting power commensurate with its weight. In order to be less dependent on the United States and international financial institutions, the BRICS+ countries are therefore striving to de-dollarize their economies. This is particularly true for countries such as Russia and Iran, which are subject to strong American sanctions.
However, it will also be more difficult to reach an agreement with such a diverse group that is still largely dominated by China. We have already recently observed the divergence of interests, during a summit on the war in Gaza.
The first major meeting of this new Brics group is definitely planned for October 2024 in the Russian city of Kazan.