6 new countries in BRICS; India blocks Chinese move to include Pakistan

New Delhi: The leaders of the BRICS nation decided to admit six countries, Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates(UAE) to their grouping. The Chinese move to include Pakistan as a member country was turned down due to the strong opposition from India.

The decision was announced by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at a joint media briefing along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The new members will become part of BRICS with effect from January 1, 2024, Ramaphosa announced.

He said the decision on the new members was agreed upon after firming up the guiding principles, criteria and procedures for the expansion process.

"We have consensus on the first phase of this BRICS expansion process," Ramaphosa said at the end of the grouping's summit in Johannesburg. "We have decided to invite Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to become full members of BRICS," he said.

"We value the interests of other countries in building partnership with BRICS and have tasked our foreign ministers to further develop the BRICS partnership model and list of prospective countries (which want to join the grouping)," Ramaphosa said.

(with PTI inputs)