BRICS expansion: UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iran among six new members | Full list

BRICS leaders announced on Thursday the admission of six new countries, thus elevating the strength of the five-nation economic grouping to 11.

During a three-day summit held in Johannesburg, South Africa, the BRICS nations forged a broad consensus to extend invitations to six countries - Argentina, Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. This move aims to bolster the influence of a coalition that is advocating for the interests of the "Global South."

Latest list of BRICS nations:

What is BRICS?

The leaders of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) nations convened for the first time in St. Petersburg, Russia during the G8 Outreach Summit in July 2006. Following this gathering, the group was formalised as BRIC during the inaugural BRIC Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in September 2006, occurring on the fringes of the UN Assembly's General Debate in New York City.

The BRIC group's nomenclature transitioned to BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) upon South Africa's full membership acceptance at the BRIC Foreign Ministers’ meeting in New York in September 2010.

BRICS stands as an important consortium, involving prominent emerging economies from around the globe, collectively representing 41% of the world's population, accounting for 24% of the global GDP, and commanding over 16% of the world's trade, according to World Bank data from 2019.

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