Saudi Arabia joins BRICS. Saudi Arabia and four other countries accepted the invitation to become members of the BRICS countries and join the bloc. This was stated by South African Minister of Foreign Affairs Naledi Pandor. Apart from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates also joined and became full members.
Last year, BRICS received written interest from 34 countries who expressed their interest in joining. However, Argentina canceled its plans to join in early 2024.
Previously, news of the entry of five new BRICS members had spread since early January 2024, but Saudi Arabia immediately denied the news and said it was still considering the offer to become members.
That time, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Economy Faisal Al-Ibrahim confirmed that the kingdom was still in the process of making a decision to join this bloc. At the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg in August 2023, leaders from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa agreed to enlarge their BRICS group starting January. Saudi Arabia joins BRICS
BRICS is also working on a framework that will allow its members to use their local currencies for intra-BRICS trade. Naledi Pandor also said BRICS found the current international payments system based largely on US dollars unfair and expensive.
