Russia’s Vladimir Putin officially welcomes UAE, Saudi into BRICS

Russian President, Vladimir Putin, officially announced on Monday that the UAE and Saudi Arabia are now formally part of the BRICS bloc.

The announcement came as Russia took over the BRICS chairmanship on January 1.

BRICS previously used to consist of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, but it has expanded to 10 countries following a resolution at the BRICS Summit in August 2022 in South Africa.

Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates are all now full members of the bloc, which is seen as a key power broker in the Global South.

“BRICS is attracting an ever-increasing number of supporters and like-minded countries that share its underlying principles, namely, sovereign equality, respect for the chosen path of development, mutual consideration of interests, openness, consensus, the aspiration to form a multipolar international order and a fair global financial and trade system, and pursuit of collective solutions to top challenges of our time,” said Putin in an official statement.

“The Russian 2024 BRICS Chairmanship under the motto Strengthening Multilateralism for Equitable Global Development and Security will act precisely in this manner and focus on positive and constructive cooperation with all countries concerned,” Putin added.

BRICS history

The genesis of BRICS stems back to 2001 when Goldman Sachs economist Jim O’Neill coined the initial term BRIC, which at the time excluded South Africa. O’Neill believed that by 2050 the four BRIC economies would come to dominate the global economy.

Subsequently, the nations making up BRIC would go on to formalise the grouping, while South Africa was subsequently added to the list later in 2010.

Critics have always questioned South Africa’s inclusion in BRICS, especially seeing at the country’s economy only makes up a 0.7 per cent of global GDP. However, part of the thinking of including South Africa in the grouping was that it would come to represent the entire African continent.

To date, South Africa remains the most industrialised country in Africa, despite its tepid economic growth and daily power cuts instituted by its state-owned monopoly electricity company Eskom.

Last year, South Africa also hosted the BRICS summit, which was viewed as a successful event, especially for President Cyril Ramaphosa.