More nations join Brics? Demand for membership has set unprecedented records

With more than 30 countries waiting for their memberships to be approved to join Brics, the economic bloc of the development nations is set to exceed the G7 as the world’s largest economic power bloc in a few years’ time.

This was revealed yesterday ahead of Brics two-day summit which is underway at Kazan in Russia from today.

Considering that 43% of the world’s population and 27% of the world reside within the bloc and some countries ditching the dollar as trading currency, experts believe Brics would soon overtake the G7, a group of rich mainly Western countries.

Brics will overtake G7 soon

The demand for Brics membership has set unprecedented records in multilateral relations, with some European nations said to be also interested to be enlisted into alliance.

Iran, Egypt, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Ethiopia will occupy their seats at the summit after they were admitted to the bloc in January.

Brics’ expansion and the controversial de-dollarisation, where member countries had begun to trade in local currencies instead of the dollar, were set to dominate the agenda.

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President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is attending the summit, was optimistic about Brics’ prospects as a forum to facilitate African growth during his address at the Brics Business Forum yesterday.

He appeared to support the de-dollarisation idea.

“We look forward to the report of the Brics finance ministers and central bank governors to the summit on the strengthening of correspondent banking networks between Brics countries and enabling settlements in local currencies,” Ramaphosa said.

Ramaphosa seemingly supports de-dollarisation

He said e-commerce in particular had great potential to enhance market access and economic growth. South Africa supported the call for international rules and standards on issues such as cross-border taxation and data privacy.

“South Africa is ready to play its part in realising the economic potential of Brics. In the midst of an improved economic outlook for South Africa, growth forecasts for the next two years have been revised upwards,” he said.

Ramaphosa put the government of national unity priorities such as structural economic reforms, massive investment in infrastructure and improving the business operating environment, as his selling point to investors.

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“South Africa has a diverse economic base with developed industries in areas such as manufacturing and services. We have sophisticated financial services, world-class infrastructure and abundant natural resources,” he said.

He also pinned hopes on the spinoffs from the African Continental Free Trade Area, saying the mechanism would be “unlocking opportunities for trade, investment and industrial growth”.

“The African continent is looking for partnerships that will unlock the dynamism and potential of its 1.3 billion people,” he said.

African partnerships

With the addition of Egypt and Ethiopia, Africa has three members in Brics. Asia so far is represented by China and India while Singapore was said to be waiting in the wings, albeit reports that China and Russia are opposed to its membership. This despite Singapore’s anti-Western imperialism rhetoric.

The participation of Iran and UAE at the same time ensured the Middle East was also represented.

The 30 countries said to be waiting to join were not named.

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