Johannesburg – BRICS leaders have agreed to expand the club of major emerging economies and adopted conditions for entry, South Africa said Wednesday, as the bloc pursues greater clout to shape the world order.
Calls to enlarge the BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – have dominated the agenda at its three-day summit in Johannesburg and exposed rifts between members.
South African officials say nearly two dozen countries have formally applied to join the BRICS, which accounts for 40 percent of the world’s population and a quarter of the global economy.
On Wednesday, South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said BRICS leaders had “agreed on the matter of expansion,” and a detailed announcement would be made before the summit’s close on Thursday.
“We have a document that we have adopted that sets out guidelines and principles, processes, for considering countries that wish to become members of BRICS,” Pandor told state-run Ubuntu Radio.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had told the summit he supported opening the door to new members and “welcomes moving forward with consensus.”
“We stand at the cusp of expanding the BRICS family,” said South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The bloc makes decisions by consensus, and no new members have been admitted since South Africa in 2010.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, on just his second trip abroad this year, said expanding the bloc would “pool our strength (and) pool our wisdom to make global governance more just and equitable.”
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