CAPE TOWN, June 2 – Senior officials from over a dozen nations, including Saudi Arabia and Iran, gathered today for talks aimed at strengthening ties with the BRICS bloc. The meeting seeks to position BRICS, consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, as a counterweight to Western influence while exploring potential membership expansion.
Once regarded as a loose alliance of emerging economies, BRICS has taken on a more defined shape in recent years, driven by China’s leadership and further motivated by Russia since the start of the Ukraine conflict in 2022.
Opening the discussions, South Africa’s Foreign Minister, Naledi Pandor, emphasized BRICS as a champion of the developing world, which she claimed had been neglected by wealthy nations and global institutions throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Cooperation in the world has faltered. Developed countries have failed to meet their commitments to the developing world and are attempting to shift all responsibilities to the global South,” said Minister Pandor.
Representatives from Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Cuba, Democratic Republic of Congo, Comoros, Gabon, and Kazakhstan attended the talks in Cape Town as part of the “Friends of BRICS” program. Egypt, Argentina, Bangladesh, Guinea-Bissau, and Indonesia participated virtually.
Other nations echoed Pandor’s criticism of affluent states. The foreign minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo highlighted the lack of political will among developed countries to promote collective peace and prosperity.
“My country…urges the BRICS countries to drive change and establish a new international order,” said Congolese Foreign Minister Christophe Lutundula Apala in a statement.
Iran’s foreign ministry expressed its desire to join the bloc and hoped that the mechanism for new membership would be determined promptly.
China had expressed its intentions to initiate a process for admitting new members last year, and existing BRICS nations have identified potential candidates. However, officials indicated that further work is needed, emphasizing the importance of proceeding with caution.
Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar stated that discussions on the guiding principles, standards, criteria, and procedures for an expanded BRICS were underway but still a work in progress.
Minister Pandor aims for the foreign ministers to finalize a framework for admitting new members before the BRICS summit scheduled for August in Johannesburg. However, preparations for the summit face controversy due to the potential attendance of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has an outstanding warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC).
As an ICC member, South Africa would face pressure to arrest Putin if he were to attend the summit. Pretoria has stated that it is still assessing its legal options regarding hosting the Russian leader.
