Algeria on Monday submitted a bid to formally join the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS) multilateral grouping with the backing of China and Russia.
Speaking to Algerian Radio, Foreign Ministry official Leila Zerrouki said Algeria has finalised all necessary measures for membership. She revealed that President Abdelmadjid Tebboune decided to apply for membership after participating in the 14th BRICS summit in China in July. She emphasised that BRICS countries agreed during the summit to “open the doors of membership to new countries.”
Zerrouki also mentioned that Algiers has been holding discussions with BRICS members apart from Beijing and Moscow, describing the grouping as a “strong alliance.”
In August, President Tebboune had expressed his willingness to join BRICS, saying it would allow Algiers “to move away from the attraction of the two poles,” given that it has been the “pioneer of the non-aligned movement.”
With #Algeria now having formally applied to join #BRICS, this is what the key non-Western groupings now look like. #China’s BRI includes 140+ countries, but no room for all on the chart that focuses mainly on Eurasia. Updated from my earlier article here:https://t.co/9Roz2uehsg pic.twitter.com/q5htSe6kHw
— Tony Norfield (@StubbornFacts) November 7, 2022
The following month, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi welcomed Tebboune’s statement and said Beijing would support Algiers’ membership. Wang affirmed that Algeria has every right to join BRICS since it is a “great developing country and a representative of emerging economies.”
Algeria’s application follows similar bids from Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Argentina.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed Saudi Arabia’s interest in joining BRICS during a visit to the Kingdom last month, during which he said Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had “expressed Saudi Arabia’s desire to be part of BRICS.”
Ramaphosa noted that he informed the Saudi Crown Prince that BRICS will hold a summit in South Africa next year and that “the matter is going to be under consideration.” “A number of countries are making approaches to BRICS members, and we have given them the same answer that it will be discussed by the BRICS partners and thereafter a decision will be made,” he revealed.
Similarly, during a meeting with his Argentine counterpart Santiago Cafiero in Buenos Aires in August, Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar offered his backing for Argentina’s bid to join BRICS, echoing China’s “fundamental support.”
Both Iran and Argentina submitted their bids in June. Russian Minister Sergey Lavrov has described both Iran and Argentina as “worthy candidates.”
Against the backdrop of this expansion, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has said, “While the White House was thinking about what else in the world would be turned off, banned, and spoiled, Argentina and Iran applied to join BRICS.”
Algeria formally applies to join BRICS…
— Wall Street Silver (@WallStreetSilv) November 8, 2022
Algeria is Europe’s largest provider of natural gas after Russia and Norway… Algeria has the 11th largest gas reserves in the world.
BRICS is turning into the world's source for commodities. If they can figure out a BRICS currency... pic.twitter.com/kllOAPOMZp
BRICS is a grouping of emerging economies that seeks to counter Western hegemony. The five-nation bloc accounts for 40% of the world’s population, approximately 26% of the global economy, and 18% of international trade.
During the most recent summit in July, members agreed to establish a new reserve currency to serve their economic interests better and possibly replace the US dollar based on a basket of currencies of the five BRICS members.