Published: January 21, 2025 9:10 am
Author: RT
The oil-rich kingdom is still assessing whether to join the bloc, the economy minister has said
Saudi Arabia is still evaluating potential membership of BRICS, the Gulf nation’s minister of economy and planning, Faisal Al-Ibrahim, told Bloomberg in an interview on Monday.
The economic bloc was established in 2009 by Brazil, Russia, India, and China, with South Africa joining two years later. Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates became full members on January 1, 2024.
“We’ve been invited to the BRICS, similar to how we’ve been invited to many other multilateral platforms in the past historically,” the Saudi economy minister told the news agency on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “We assess many different aspects of it before a decision is made and right now, we are in the middle of that.”
Al-Ibrahim emphasized that Riyadh is “always focusing on fostering more global dialogue.”
The kingdom, along with five other nations, was invited to become a member of the group during the 15th BRICS summit, held in Johannesburg in August, 2023. Argentina, however, declined an invitation after President Javier Milei opposed the move, reversing the stance of his predecessor, Alberto Fernandez.
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Last month, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov announced that the group had approved ‘partner state’ status for Belarus, Bolivia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Cuba, Uganda, Malaysia, and Uzbekistan – which took effect at the start of this year.
Partner status was established at the latest BRICS summit, hosted by Russia in Kazan in October, 2024. It is intended to serve as an alternative to membership, after over 30 countries applied to join the group. Holders of this status can permanently participate in special sessions of BRICS summits, ministerial meetings, and other high-level events. Partners can also contribute to the group’s outcome documents, but do not take part in the approval of documents or voting.
