What South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Thursday morning (August 24) was surprising: six new countries will join BRICS. These are Argentina, Ethiopia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.
They should join on January 1, 2024, and the alliance should be called BRICS plus from then on. "With this summit, BRICS has opened a new chapter," Ramaphosa said. "A new chapter to create a just world. A just world. A world that is inclusive and prosperous".
Ethiopia or some other country?
The press conference, which was originally scheduled for Wednesday, was later cancelled. It has not been officially announced why. It is said, however, that there was some discussion as to why Ethiopia. Allegedly, Indonesia was also in the running.
But then Ramaphosa won. It cannot be, he allegedly said, that enlargement is decided at a summit in South Africa without admitting any black African state.
Egypt is geographically in Africa, but it is considered an Arab country. That's why Ethiopia.
That dispute has not been officially confirmed.
New World Order?
Many observers believe that the alliance of BRICS plus countries will shift the political and economic center of gravity around the world. The old group, BRICS, represented 42 percent of the world's population and about 25 percent of global economic output. BRICS plus, the future group, will represent 37 percent of the world economy and 46 percent of the world population.
A powerful block, say many analysts. Enough to counter the West, which the BRICS countries see as too powerful and too dominant. So a new world order?
Stephen Grazd from the South African Institute of International Affairs says that it remains to be seen whether BRICS plus can be a powerful opponent or just a competitor. The interests of the future eleven BRICS plus members are too different, as are their economic and political structures, but also their goals.
China and Russia are clearly autocracies. And so is Iran. Brazil, India and South Africa are parliamentary democracies. So is Argentina. But where should the other five new members be placed? A war was raging in Ethiopia until recently. People in Egypt have their rights violated even more.
The thing with Saudi Arabia and Iran
It is particularly difficult to understand that Saudi Arabia and Iran will be in BRIS plus. They are actually mortal enemies. Both countries claim supremacy in the Middle East. Iran supports the rebels in Yemen, against whom Saudi Arabia has been fighting for a long time.
China made a semi-successful attempt at mediation at the beginning of the year, and Grazd says of it: "It will be interesting to see if it actually works. Those two countries will be bitter rivals in the Middle East for a long time. I don't think an agreement like the one announced now will allow that the bad blood between the two countries suddenly disappears."
It should be noted that the two countries announced at the beginning of the year that they would establish diplomatic relations. The reason is obvious: the confrontation brought more harm than good to both countries. Neither side can overcome the other.
Political or economic alliance?
On the first and second day of the summit, there was a lot of talk about the war in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin harshly criticized the West in two video messages. On Tuesday, he complained about Western sanctions against, as he said, "sovereign countries", which, he says, primarily affect the poorest countries in the world. By "sovereign countries" he meant, of course, Russia, and by "poorest" African countries.
On Wednesday, he did it again. The West "provoked" the war against Ukraine.
On the last day, however, there was no mention of it. In a video message, Putin thanked the BRICS countries for the expansion and praised the way the South African president conducted the negotiations.
Only Chinese President Xi Jinping briefly mentioned that the new BRICS plus group should also be for ensuring peace in the world. No one, however, talked about how things should go with a country like Iran.
In general, there was a lot of talk about the economy and the cooperation of banks in the member countries. On the last day of the summit, no one talked about the common currency, which had been constantly discussed in the previous days. That project is probably off the agenda for now.
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