Brasília – The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil said 22 countries have formally applied to join BRICS, a grouping of the world economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
The number was presented Wednesday (16) by the secretary for Asian and the Pacific of Brazil’s Foreign Ministry, Eduardo Paes Saboia, during a briefing on the trip that president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will make to South Africa, Angola, and São Tome e Príncipe.
In Johannesburg, South Africa, Lula will participate from August 22 to 24 in the 15th BRICS Summit. From there, he’ll continue to Angola, then São Tomé e Príncipe.
According to ambassador Saboia, the BRICS Summit meeting will feature 40 heads of state from the African and Asian continents, besides Latin America and the Middle East. This will be the first in-person meeting between the BRICS leaders after the pandemic.
The ambassador highlighted some issues that are expected to be on the agenda. One of them refers to the entry of new members. “They’ll talk about criteria and standards to be adopted to inform the entry of new members into the group,” he said. Saboia pointed out that topic is nothing new. “Since 2011 the interaction with non-member countries has been discussed.”
The war between Russia and Ukraine, the ambassador said, will be only internally discussed, during the so-called retreat, when BRICS heads of state and government meet behind closed doors. Another issue to be discussed by the group will be use of local currency or a potential BRICS reference unit for trade transactions. “Some results are likely to arise in this matter,” Saboia believes.
Translation by Guilherme Miranda
