BEIJING (Reuters) – The expansion of BRICS will inject new vitality into the group’s cooperation mechanism, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Thursday.
The BRICS group of nations reached a broad consensus to invite six countries – Argentina, Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – to join, in a move aimed at growing the clout of a bloc that has pledged to champion the “Global South”.
This is a historic expansion, which reflects the determination of BRICS countries to unite and cooperate with other developing countries, Xi said at the group’s leaders’ summit in South Africa’s Johannesburg.
“This expansion meets the expectations of the international community and serves the common interests of emerging markets and developing countries,” Xi added.
Xi also said that the BRICS countries “are all countries with great influence and shoulder important responsibilities for world peace and development”.
(Reporting by Ethan Wang, Albee Zhang and Liz Lee; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
