BRICS expansion faces last-minute hurdle as divisions persist

JOHANNESBURG, Aug 23 (Reuters) – An agreement to expand the BRICS group of the major developing countries appeared deadlocked in last-minute negotiations at a leaders’ summit on Wednesday, threatening to undermine the bloc’s ambition to give the “Global South” more influence in world affairs.

The agreement to expand the BRICS (currently Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) could allow dozens of interested nations to seek admission as Beijing and Moscow push to make it a viable bloc. counterweight to the West.

The enlargement debate was at the top of the agenda at the three-day summit in Johannesburg. And while all BRICS members have publicly expressed support for the bloc’s growth, there were divisions among the leaders over how much and how fast.

The South African Foreign Minister, host of the summit, Naledi Pandor, said on Wednesday that the BRICS leaders had agreed on mechanisms to consider new members.

“We have agreed on the issue of enlargement,” he told a radio station run by his ministry.

“We have a document that we have adopted that sets out guidelines and principles, processes for considering countries that want to become BRICS members… That is very positive.”

However, an official from a BRICS member country with direct knowledge of the discussions told Reuters the leaders had not yet signed a finalized admission framework.

A deal was supposed to be adopted after a plenary session on Wednesday, but the source said it had been delayed after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced new admission criteria.

When asked about the delay, an Indian official aware of the details of the talks told Reuters on Wednesday night that discussions were continuing.

“Yesterday… India pushed for consensus on the criteria, as well as on the issue of (candidate) names. There was a broad understanding,” he said.

LAST MINUTE SPOILER

The BRICS countries have very different economies of scale and governments with often divergent foreign policy objectives, a factor that complicates the situation for a bloc whose consensus decision-making model gives each member a de facto veto.

China, the heavyweight of the block has long called for an expansion of the BRICS as a means of fostering a multipolar world order that challenges Western dominance.

“The world… has entered a new period of turbulence and transformation,” Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday. “We, the BRICS countries, must always keep in mind our founding purpose of becoming stronger through unity.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin, wanted under international arrest warrant for alleged war crimes in Ukraine and you attend the summit remotely, you want to show the Western powers that you still have friends.

Brazil and India, by contrast, have been forging closer ties with the West.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Tuesday rejected the idea that the bloc should seek to rival United States and the Group of Seven rich economies.

The BRICS country official said India’s Modi’s proposed admission criteria included requiring members not be subject to international sanctions, ruling out potential candidates such as Iran and Venezuela.

Modi was also pushing for a minimum GDP per capita requirement.

“These are the things that Modi brought today,” the official said. “So they’re becoming a bit of a spoiler.”

BRICS hopefuls

more than 40 countries have expressed interest in joining the BRICS, South African officials say, and 22 have formally applied for admission.

They represent a disparate group of potential candidates – from Iran to Argentina – motivated in large part by a desire to level a global playing field many see as rigged against them and drawn by the BRICS’ promise to rebalance the global order.

Several potential candidates will send delegations to Johannesburg to meet on Thursday (the last day of the summit) with the bloc’s leaders.

Although they are home to around 40% of the world’s population and a quarter of global GDP, the failure of BRICS members to set a coherent vision for the bloc has long left it underweight as a political actor. and global economy.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Tuesday that because of the divergent views of the BRICS countries on critical issues, he did not see the bloc becoming a geopolitical rival to the United States.

But moves to expand the bloc and boost its New Development Bank as an alternative to established multilateral lenders are raising concerns among some in the West.

Werner Hoyer, director of the European Investment Bank, warned Western governments on Wednesday that they were in danger of losing trust of the ‘Global South’, unless they urgently step up their own efforts to support the poorest countries.

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