South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said the BRICS group of nations decided to invite six countries — Argentina, Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to become new members of the bloc at a summit in Johannesburg this week. Did.
Addressing the summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that India has always fully supported the expansion of BRICS as it believes that the addition of new members will further strengthen the grouping.
“We have taken an important decision for the expansion of BRICS. This will further strengthen the beliefs of many countries in this multipolar world. I am glad that our teams have agreed on the guiding principles, standards, norms and procedures for the expansion of BRICS.” PM Modi said while addressing a press conference.
“I am confident that we will be able to give new dynamism to BRICS by working with the new member countries of the grouping. India has very deep and historical relations with all these countries,” he said.
Debates on expanding the BRICS bloc comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa top the agenda of the three-day summit that ends in Johannesburg on Thursday.
While all BRICS members have publicly expressed support for expanding the bloc, leaders differed on how much and how soon.