The BRICS group of emerging markets is ramping up its bid for greater global influence, sensing a moment to capitalize on the splintering world order to build out its ranks beyond Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Foreign ministers from BRICS nations meeting over two days in Cape Town starting Thursday will be joined by counterparts from countries including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Kazakhstan. On the agenda is expansion, with as many as 19 countries aspiring to join, and the potential establishment of a common currency.
The gathering, a precursor to an Aug. 22-24 summit of BRICS heads of state in Johannesburg, will showcase the bloc’s goals to establish itself as a serious economic and political force. Coming at a time of heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing, the talks are also likely to fan western concerns that the group is moving to become a counterweight to the US and the European Union.
Already, members have refused to join the likes of the Group of Seven in blaming — and sanctioning — fellow BRICS nation Russia over President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The goals of expansion and a shared currency are aims espoused by China, and at least two of the country attendees in Cape Town — Iran and Cuba — are subject to US economic penalties.
“BRICS has acquired a very important stature in the world, with many countries across various continents of our world seeking to be part of it,” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa told lawmakers in Cape Town on Wednesday. Naledi Pandor, the foreign minister and meeting host, said last month that the bloc could be “transformative,” representing those nations “that wish to play a role in world affairs, ensuring benefit to the Global South.”
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is a vocal supporter, championing the use of a shared currency and dispatching his Finance Minister Fernando Haddad to attend a meeting of the New Development Bank, the Shanghai-based lender created by BRICS nations, to lobby for assistance for beleaguered neighbor Argentina. Argentina’s foreign minister is due to attend the BRICS meeting remotely.
Lula’s protege and the bank’s president, Dilma Rousseff, said this week that the lender was looking to widen its membership further. Bangladesh and the UAE joined in 2021, while Egypt became a member in February. Now Saudi Arabia is discussing membership.
Riyadh’s accession to BRICS would bolster Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s attempts to diversify his nation’s economy, an effort that has bought it much closer to Russia and China in recent years. China is the kingdom’s most important oil customer, while it relies on relations with Russia to help prop up crude prices through OPEC+.