Thea Fathanah Arbar, CNBC Indonesia
Thursday, 24/08/2023 08:50 WIB
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – The agreement to add members to the BRICS economic bloc (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) seemed to have stalled at the leaders’ summit that took place in Johannesburg, Wednesday (23/8/2023).
Although all BRICS members have publicly expressed support for developing the bloc, there are differences of opinion among leaders as to how much and how quickly this support will be provided.
South African Foreign Minister Summit host Naledi Pandor said BRICS leaders had agreed on a mechanism to consider new members.
“We have agreed on the issue of expansion,” he told a radio station run by his ministry, was quoted as saying Reuters.
“We have a document that we adopted that sets out guidelines and principles, a process for considering countries that want to become BRICS members… It’s very positive.”
However, an official with a BRICS member state with direct knowledge of the discussions said the leaders had yet to sign off on a final acceptance framework.
An agreement was supposed to be approved after a plenary session on Wednesday morning, but the source said it was postponed after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced new acceptance criteria.
When asked about the delay, an Indian official familiar with the details of the talks said discussions were still ongoing.
“Yesterday… India pushed for consensus on the criteria as well as the issue of (candidate) names. There is wide understanding,” he said.
BRICS countries have very different economies of scale and governments have often different foreign policy objectives. This is a complicating factor for the bloc, whose consensus decision-making model confers a unanimous veto in fact to each member.
China has long called for the expansion of the BRICS as a means to develop a multipolar world order to challenge Western dominance.
“The world… has entered a new period of turbulence and transformation,” Chinese President Xi Jinping said Wednesday. “We, the BRICS nations, must always keep in mind our founding goal of strengthening ourselves through unity.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin, wanted on an international arrest warrant for alleged war crimes in Ukraine and attending the summit remotely, is keen to show Western nations that he still has friends.
By contrast, Brazil and India have forged closer ties with Western countries.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva rejected the idea that the bloc should try to rival the US and the wealthy Group of Seven (G7) nations.
BRICS state officials said Modi’s proposed acceptance criteria from India included requiring its members not to be subject to international sanctions, and ruling out potential candidates Iran and Venezuela. Modi is also pushing for a minimum GDP per capita requirement.
Previously, more than 40 countries had expressed interest in joining the BRICS, South African officials said, and 22 countries had formally requested acceptance.
They represent a wide range of potential candidates, from Iran to Argentina, most of whom are motivated by a desire to equalize the global order.
Watch the video below:
Putin Opens Up At BRICS Summit Talking About De-Dollarization
(luc/luc)
2023-08-24 01:50:07
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