Brazil, India, China, Russia and South Africa, countries flags.
Interest in joining BRICS has soared in recent years, with over 20 nations having formally applied to be part of the bloc. Several other countries including Comoros, Gabon and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have informally shown an interest in doing so.
Bansion of BRICS is expected to be high on the agenda when leaders meet at the summit in Johannesburg. South Africa proposed expanding the membership of BRICS in 2018, but other members — notably Russia and China — were reluctant at the time. The leaders decided instead to consolidate and shelve discussions about expansion. A major decision of the 2022 BRICS Summit was to begin the process of expanding the membership of the bloc.
However, the expansion of the bloc has emerged as a prickly issue among the five leaders, who are not in agreement about the merits of expanding membership, let alone the criteria for accepting applicants.
Official sources have told Daily Maverick that China and Russia — BRICS’s two autocratic members — are pushing to expand membership, while democratic Brazil and India are wary, and South Africa is on the fence. Russia’s strong impetus for expansion is believed to be driven largely by its isolation from the West because of its invasion of Ukraine, while China is seeking to boost its geopolitical clout amid increasing US-China tensions over Taiwan.
BRICS officials and foreign ministers have been working on the criteria for membership, according to South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Naledi Pandor, and will draft recommendations to be considered by the BRICS leaders during the summit.
Pandor had earlier announced that 23 nations have formally applied to be part of the bloc. The Moroccan government has since denied applying for membership and is not attending the BRICS-Africa outreach meeting at the summit.
An official told Daily Maverick that Morocco had inquired about the criteria and procedures for joining BRICS. It appears this might have been interpreted by Pretoria as an application to join. Morocco seems particularly concerned about the possibility that Iran and Venezuela might join BRICS.
