These six countries are set to join the BRICS bloc

Leaders of the five major emerging economies that form the BRICS bloc will allow six new countries to join the fold, they announced Thursday. 

Saudi Arabia, Iran, Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates will become BRICS members in January, joining Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The countries were invited following an agreement to expand the group reached at a three-day BRICS summit in Johannesburg.  

The additions aim to put the Global South — the largest Southern countries in terms of land area or population — squarely in the middle of global conversations on economics and governance and set the stage for a more powerful counter to Western-led groups, like the G7.

Chinese President Xi Jinping called the membership expansion “historic” and said it would “bring new vigor to the BRICS cooperation mechanism and further strengthen the force for world peace and development.” 

The expansion is seen as all the more important by members, including Russia and China, analysts said, because they are facing pushback from Western nations in the form of sanctions. 

The acronym BRICS, created in 2001, initially stood for Brazil, Russia, India and China before including South Africa. 

The group has existed for 15 years but has not made major geopolitical waves due to the often competing interests of the countries involved and their different governments and geographies.  

But with reports indicating Russia and China — two countries that are under heavy sanctions from Western countries — pushed heavily for expansion, the group’s newfound economic heft may change that.

The group plans to allow further expansion, with more than 40 countries expressing interest in joining BRICS, 23 of which formally applied to join, according to Al Jazeera. 

The heads of state from about 50 nations were said to have attended the South African summit, which concluded Thursday.