MOSCOW: Twenty-five countries are currently on the waitlist to join BRICS, with new members expected to be ushered into the association at...
MOSCOW: Twenty-five countries are currently on the waitlist to join BRICS, with new members expected to be ushered into the association at the summit in Kazan, South Africa’s Ambassador to Russia Mzuvukile Geoff Maqetuka told TASS.
"In Kazan (at the BRICS summit — TASS), it goes without saying there will be new members who would be. <…> There were all in all close to about 25 all in all who indicated that they are ready to join BRICS," the South African ambassador said.
He emphasized that it is important to clarify how a country can join BRICS. "I didn’t want to use the word applied because in being a member of BRICS, there are two processes. Process number one, you can indicate that you intend to join. Process number two, you can apply directly to say, I want to join. Now, 25 countries and by the 15th summit, six countries out of the 25, right, were nominated. Now, only, I think, 12 countries were considered out of the 25. So you still have about, say, 11 countries that are still waiting," the envoy clarified. In his opinion, by the October summit in Kazan the list of candidates will be clear and BRICS will expand.
"And I think who will be the next chair after Russia? It will be Brazil. Brazil will still be dealing with this issue until such time that the leaders decide that let’s pause. But in Kazan, it goes without saying there will be new members," Maqetuka said. "There will be an announcement of new members, especially from that block that have already applied. Countries like Algeria, countries like Belarus, Pakistan, and a host of others, a lot, right? So there will be expansion in Kazan and but still, there’s no way that all the 11 or 12 or 10 remaining countries will be accepted. No, it will have to be a gradual," the ambassador added.
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