South African President Cyril Ramaphosa declared an invitation to Egypt, Ethiopia, Argentina, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates to be full members at BRICS starting on 1st of January 2024. He said the five Brics countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – had reached an agreement on the guiding principles, standards, criteria and procedures of the expansion process, which had been under discussion for a while. It is worth mentioning that this is the second time when BRICS has decided to expand. The bloc was formed in 2009 by Brazil, Russia, India and China. South Africa was added in 2010.
