South Africa, as the present President of BRICS, is ready to host a big assembly this week with the growth of the grouping as a key agenda.

The BRICS Sherpa assembly, scheduled to happen from July 4th to sixth in Durban, will give attention to finalising the growth doc to be thought-about by the Foreign Ministers and the Leaders.

During the assembly, the member international locations will collaborate on establishing pointers, procedures, and standards for the growth of BRICS.

A complete of 19 international locations, with 13 formal requests and roughly 5 or 6 casual queries, have approached BRICS leaders expressing their curiosity in turning into full members of the BRICS discussion board. 

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In a latest interview with WION, South Africa’s Foreign Minister, Naledi Pandor, disclosed that quite a few international locations, together with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Algeria, Argentina, Mexico, and Nigeria, have expressed eager curiosity in becoming a member of BRICS. Minister Pandor highlighted the widespread international curiosity in turning into a part of the grouping, emphasizing that the choice on new members will likely be made after shaping the suitable standards.

The latest BRICS Foreign Ministers assembly in Cape Town noticed a number of African international locations, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE attended the “Friends of BRICS” gathering.

This assembly additional highlighted the curiosity and potential for BRICS to broaden its attain and affect. Focus on growth has been a part of the dialog withing the grouping for a while now. The 2022 China BRICS summit noticed calls by members international locations to trying into growth.

Para 73 of the joint assertion mentioned, “we support promoting discussions among BRICS members on BRICS expansion process. We stress the need to clarify the guiding principles, standards, criteria and procedures for this expansion process through Sherpas’ channel on the basis of full consultation and consensus.”

Formed within the early 2000s, BRICS brings collectively the important thing rising economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Collectively, these nations account for 41% of the world’s inhabitants, contribute 24 per cent to international GDP, and maintain a considerable 16% share in world commerce. Over the years, BRICS international locations have performed an important function as engines of world financial development.