JOHANNESBURG, Aug 24, 2023 (BSS/AFP) - BRICS leaders announced on Thursday 
the "historic" admission of six new countries from next year as the club of 
large and populous emerging economies seeks to reshape the global order.

The BRICS -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- agreed at their 
annual summit to make Argentina, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the 
United Arab Emirates full members from January 1.

"This membership expansion is historic," said Chinese President Xi Jinping, 
whose nation is the most powerful in the group of non-Western states that 
represents a quarter of the world's economy.

"The expansion is also a new starting point for BRICS cooperation. It will 
bring new vigour to the BRICS cooperation mechanism and further strengthen 
the force for world peace and development".

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed hailed what he called "a great moment" 
for his country, the second-most populous in Africa.

"Ethiopia stands ready to cooperate with all for an inclusive and prosperous 
global order," he said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

In Iran, senior presidential advisor Mohammad Jamshidi described the move as 
a "historic development and a strategic success" for Tehran's foreign policy.

- 'Strength in diversity' -

Calls to enlarge the BRICS had dominated the agenda at its three-day summit 
in Johannesburg and exposed divisions among the bloc over how quickly new 
members should be admitted, and how many.

But the group, which makes decisions by consensus, had agreed on the criteria 
for admission, said South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, paving the way 
for the bloc to expand even further.

Nearly two dozen countries had formally applied to join and about the same 
number have expressed interest from across the "Global South", a broad term 
referring to non-Western nations.

Some 50 other heads of state and government attended the summit, underscoring 
what BRICS leaders say is the attractiveness of its message and growing 
relevance on the world stage.

US officials have played down the likelihood of BRICS emerging as a 
geopolitical rival, describing the bloc as a highly diverse collection of 
countries containing both friends and rivals.

The bloc is a disparate mix of big and small economies, democratic and 
authoritarian states, and the candidates seeking membership and those 
admitted to the club also reflect this variety.

But despite differences, BRICS leaders expressed a common belief that the 
global system was dominated by Western states and institutions that did not 
serve the interests of developing nations.

"Our diversity strengthens the fight for a new international order," said 
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who has strongly promoted the 
BRICS development bank as a counter to the Washington DC-based International 
Monetary Fund and World Bank.

- 'New dimensions' -

Lula said with the admission of six new members, the BRICS now represented 
nearly half the world's population and an even greater share of its economic 
output.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his country enjoyed "deep" ties with 
the new members and "with the help of BRICS, new dimensions will be added to 
our bilateral cooperation".

The bloc, founded in 2009 and expanded the following year to include South 
Africa, has risen to prominence at a time of intense geopolitical rivalry and 
analysts said its 15th summit in Johannesburg could be pivotal.

China had been campaigning to rapidly grow the BRICS into a counterweight to 
the G7 group of wealthy democracies and other Western-led institutions amid 
rising competition with the United States.

South Africa also supported expansion as did Russia, whose leader Vladimir 
Putin is the subject of an international arrest warrant, and addressed the 
summit via video link.

The summit in Johannesburg underlined divisions with the West over the war in 
Ukraine, and the support Russia enjoys from its BRICS partners despite its 
global isolation.

South Africa, China and India have not condemned Russia's invasion while 
Brazil has refused to join Western nations in sending arms to Ukraine or 
imposing sanctions on Moscow.