BRICS strengthens positions with serious players

By Evgeny Pozdnyakov

Russia, as the initiator of the creation of BRICS, welcomes the expansion of the organization. Now the block is able to reflect the interests of the Persian Gulf countries. In addition, the influence of unification in Latin America is growing. Political scientist Stanislav Tkachenko spoke to the VZGLYAD newspaper. Earlier, six new states were announced to join the BRICS.
“The entry of six new states is a huge step towards the development of the BRICS. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran and the UAE are the top four countries in the Persian Gulf. The region is extremely significant for world politics. The association expands its own sphere of influence, which significantly increases the scale of possible initiatives in the future,” said Stanislav Tkachenko, professor at the Department of European Studies at the Faculty of International Relations of St. Petersburg State University, an expert at the Valdai Club.

“Ethiopia deserves special attention. This is a densely populated country, which ranks second in the number of inhabitants on the African continent. In addition, Addis Ababa is a long-standing partner of Russia, which significantly strengthens Moscow's position within the organization,” the interlocutor emphasizes.

“It is unexpected to see Argentina in the list of new members of the bloc. Despite the fact that Latin America is already represented in the BRICS by Brazil, the entry of Buenos Aires opens the way for further growth of the association's significance in the region. Theoretically, in the future, the accession of Mexico may also occur, which will become a bright international event,” Tkachenko emphasizes.

“In my opinion, BRICS will allow new members to “put their own chair at the table of big politics”. Important and strong states are being added that, due to historical circumstances, have not been properly represented in the international arena for a long time,” the analyst believes.

“At the same time, I do not think that the goal of countries is economic preferences. All except Argentina, in fact, do not need external funding and have a very large reserve of national funds, ”the political scientist notes.

“Such a significant expansion of the BRICS opens up tremendous opportunities for Russia. First, in this way Moscow once again proves the strength of its own diplomatic school. The organization was largely born as an initiative of the Russian Federation, and the growth of its international prestige is the undoubted merit of our Foreign Ministry, ”the source clarifies.

“Secondly, Iran and Ethiopia, significant partners of the Russian Federation, are joining the BRICS. Joint work within the same block will strengthen economic ties with Tehran and Addis Ababa. Thirdly, the increase in the authority of the association opens the way to new expansions. It is quite possible that Pakistan and Indonesia will join the organization in the near future,” Tkachenko sums up.

Earlier, six new states were announced to join the BRICS. This was announced by the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, following the results of the 15th summit of the organization. He specified that from January 1, 2024, Argentina, Egypt, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia will become members of the bloc.

It is estimated that the enlarged BRICS will be more than double the size of the G7 in terms of area and more than quadruple in population. In addition, Ramaphosa said that the participating countries signed the final declaration of the summit, which was called "Johannesburg-2". According to him, the states of the association are concerned about the current conflicts in the world and stand for their peaceful solution through dialogue.

The Russian President Vladimir Putin called the approval of the declaration difficult. However, in his opinion, the leader of South Africa showed amazing diplomatic skill in agreeing on all positions, including the expansion of the BRICS. Previously, a document was agreed on with the principles of accepting new members into the association.

In Russia, the news about the increase in the number of participants in the bloc received positive assessments. Thus, the speaker of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Maria Zakharova in her Telegram channel assessed the results of the summit as “brilliant”. Izolyatsiya, like burning Western tanks, is lying in a ditch,” she said. In addition, the representative of the diplomatic department expressed the opinion that the expansion of the BRICS does not pose a threat to the United States.

As part of the meeting of the leaders of the countries of the organization, Vladimir Putin announced Moscow's readiness to work on the admission of new members to the bloc. Lets recall that it is Russia that will chair the BRICS next year.
This article originally appeared in Russian at vz.ru