BRICS 2023 Summit in South Africa

Quick Glance:

• The BRICS 2023 summit was held in Johannesburg, South Africa.
  
• Six new member countries—Argentina, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, and Egypt, have been added to this group.

BRICS 2023 Summit

The total number of member nations of the BRICS rose to 11. The BRICS 2023 summit has been going on in Johannesburg, South Africa. It is the 15th summit of the BRICS. The theme of the summit is BRICS 2023 in Africa: Partnership for Mutually Accelerated Growth, Sustainable Development, and Inclusive Multilateralism. 

The member countries that attended the BRICS 2023 summit were Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India; Xi Jinping, President of China; Vladimir Putin, President of Russia; Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil; and Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa.

The President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, announced the expansion of BRICS in his speech on August 24, 2023. The six new countries have become part of the BRICS. The new member countries are Argentina, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, and Egypt.

The new countries will become permanent members of this block on January 1, 2024.

What is BRICS?

BRICS is a group of developing nations. The term BRIC was coined in 2001 by Jim O. Neil, who was chairman of Goldman Sachs. Its name has been created with the first letter of the member countries. The first meeting of the BRICS was held in 2009 in Russia. Originally, it had only 4 members, and its name was BRIC, but in 2010, South Africa became a member, and the acronym changed to BRICS. The members of BRICS are

Brazil

Russia

India

China

South Africa

Official languages of the BRICS:

This group has five languages as its official languages, which are:

1. Hindi
2. English
3. Portuguese 
4. Russian
5. Mandarin of China

Other Facts About the BRICS:

The BRICS countries cover 30% of the world. The total GDP of these countries is $16 trillion, which is 22% of the total GDP of the world. Also, the population of BRICS countries is 3.6 billion, which is 41% of the total world population.

Reasons for the Expansion of the BRICS

Some other countries, like Belarus, Bolivia, Indonesia, Cuba, Gabon, etc., also bid for membership in this club.

1. China wanted its friendly nations to be added to this group. We can say that Saudi Arabia joined this group in order to reduce its dependence on the USA.
   
2. The other reason is to reduce the dominance of the eastern countries in groups like the G7, etc.
   
3. The BRICS nation also wants to bring diversity to the group.
   
4. Some media outlets said that the main reason was to establish China’s hegemony in the group.

Relationship of India and China with these new members

We all know that in this group of developing nations, India and China are the major economies. So there are some conflicts between these two countries in the selection of countries that are to be added to the BRICS.

For example, China desperately wanted Pakistan to be added to this block, but India firmly opposed this idea. But finally, there is consensus among the member countries.

United Arab Emirates:

India and China backed the entry of the UAE into this block. The UAE and India are both comprehensive strategic partners. Both countries are also part of the I2U2 initiative. When we talk about the relationship between China and the UAE, there is a bright future for their diplomatic relations. In 2022, China and the UAE’s bilateral trade hit a new record.

What is the I2U2 initiative?

This is a group of four countries: India, Israel, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and the USA. Its first summit was held virtually in 2022. The main objective of this group is to invest jointly in six areas. These areas are:

Water

Energy

Transportation 

Space

Health

Food security 

Ethiopia:

Ethiopia is the most important country on the African continent, as the headquarters of the African Union are established here. It is to be noted that both China and India have very strong economic and political ties with Ethiopia.

Egypt:

In 2023, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi became the first PM of India since 1997 to visit Egypt. India invited Egypt as the guest country at the G-20 summit, which is to be held in September 2023. Also, China and Egypt have cordial relations. Egypt was one of those nations that immediately signed China’s Belt and Road Initiative agreement after the announcement.

Saudi Arabia:

This country recently became the dialogue partner of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which is led by China. Saudi Arabia and India have quite friendly relations. Saudi Arabia established a Strategic Partnership Council in 2019 with India. India was the fourth country with which Saudi Arabia established such a type of council after the UK, France, and China.

Iran:

India and Iran have had a downfall in their relations after the India-US nuclear deal and US sanctions on Iran. India also stopped the import of oil from Iran. However, India has invested in the Chabahar port in Iran even after the US sanctions on Iran. Iran’s dependency on China has also increased in recent years. China has been Iran’s largest trade partner for 10 consecutive years.

Argentina:

India and Argentina have had cordial economic, political, and technical relations for decades. In 2023, both countries signed an agreement for the exchange of young researchers and startups in the fields of biotechnology and agriculture. On the other hand, China has good economic relations with Argentina, as China is Argentina’s second-largest trade partner.

So we can say that the reports that claim that China wants to add its friendly nations to the BRICS to create its dominance seem to be false, as the added countries have good relations with both India and China.