Ethiopia Officially Requests to Join BRICS

Orinoco Tribune, July 2, 2023 —

Ethiopia has submitted a formal request to join the BRICS group, according to the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In a press briefing, ministry spokesman Meles Alem confirmed that the East African country applied for membership in the bloc.

“We expect BRICS will give us a positive response to the request we have made,” he stated.

Alem stressed that Ethiopia has participated in and stood at the origins of many international institutions, and will further work with international institutions that can protect its interests.

In May, South African representative to BRICS, Anil Sooklal, told Sputnik Africa that many countries in the Global South have submitted formal applications, and that many others have applied to their embassies and capitals to join the organization.

As previously noted by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the expansion of the organization will be on the agenda of the upcoming BRICS leaders’ summit.

In total, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov earlier said that the number of states interested in joining the association is approaching two dozen.

Potential candidates for accession include Indonesia, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.

Several countries, aside from Ethiopia, have already filed formal applications to join the BRICS coalition. These are Argentina, Algeria, Iran, Egypt, and Bangladesh.

BRICS unites the world’s largest developing economies—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

South Africa, which assumed the rotating BRICS presidency in January, is expected to host the 15th BRICS summit in Johannesburg in August.