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President of the BRICS International Forum Purnima Anand said that Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey intend to become members of the international organization. According to her, during the 14th summit of the BRICS leaders, which was held in Beijing in a virtual format from June 23 to 24, this issue was discussed by China, Russia and India. Earlier, Iran and Argentina have already submitted applications to join the BRICS.
— said Purnima Anand in an interview with the correspondents of Izvestia.
The head of BRICS expressed confidence that the entry of new members will happen quickly enough, although it will not be one-time. A corresponding decision can be made already at the next summit, which will be held in South Africa in 2023.
Anand believes that the expansion of BRICS is a natural and natural process of the formation of a multipolar world, which accelerated after the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine. At the same time, the main task of the union remains the same: strengthening economic ties, exchanging resources, creating aviation, trade and financial routes for the new world realities.
Currently, the combined GDP of the four member countries of the association - Russia, China, India and South Africa — is $24.4 trillion. With the arrival of new members in the BRICS, its economic influence will first of all increase, and the total GDP of the participating countries in this case may exceed $ 27 trillion.
According to Pavel Knyazev, Deputy Director of the Foreign Policy Planning Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Russia's representative in BRICS, Russia welcomes the emergence of new members of the commonwealth and the expansion of BRICS. Now the current members of the organization will have to develop the criteria for the entry of the five countries and begin discussing the conditions for adoption on the basis of consensus. According to Knyazev, it would be incorrect to talk about the possible dates of joining the BRICS, even Argentina and Iran, which have already submitted applications.
Experts believe that the expansion of the BRICS will strengthen its international political and economic influence, as well as accelerate integration processes between the participating countries. At the same time, it is emphasized that the criteria for selecting new members should be balanced and correspond to the goals of the association's development. Thus, Turkish political analyst Kerim Has believes that in the near future Istanbul will definitely not be able to join the ranks of the BRICS due to the crisis in the country's economy.
In other words, BRICS should not be like the same European Union, which has already accepted several economically weak countries of Eastern Europe as ballast, and now has issued the status of candidates for membership to marginal Ukraine and Moldova. On the other hand, the countries that have applied to join the organization are regional leaders, their participation in the association will at least expand the influence of BRICS among developing countries.
