Iran, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt to become full members of BRICS+

Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE have officially been invited to join the BRICS group of emerging economies, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on 24 August during the closing of a three-day summit in Johannesburg.

“As a five BRICS countries, we have reached an agreement on the guiding principles, standards, criteria, and procedures on the BRICS expansion process, which has been in discussion for quite a while,” Ramaphosa said during a press briefing alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

“We have consensus on the first phase of this expansion process, and other phases will follow. We have decided to invite the Argentine Republic, the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates to become full members of BRICS,” the South African leader announced, adding that their membership will take effect from 1 January 2024.