In its first expansion in over a decade, the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) group is petitioning oil powers Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to join, along with Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and Argentina.
The invitation was extended by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who announced it publicly as he wrapped up the annual BRICS summit in Johannesburg.
In response, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said the kingdom is still awaiting further details from the BRICS group about what membership entails. Once those details are provided, Saudi Arabia will make an "appropriate decision."
All six countries have expressed interest in joining the other five, which would make a total off 11 – assuming all of them actually join. Some believe that, in accordance with Bible prophecy, the final BRICS group total will be just 10 nations representing the 10 kingdoms of Revelation.
"The membership will take effect from the first of January 2024," Ramaphosa stated at the conclusion of the event.
(Related: The more BRICS gains strength, the less Washington, D.C., terrorists will be able to create and unleash deadly bioweapons in violation of international law.)
BRICS is slowly but surely taking over global trade
In a video message, since he could not legally show up in person, Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated the new BRICS members, adding that the bloc's global influence will only continue to grow from here on out until the West is done.
"I would like to congratulate the new members who will work in a full-scale format next year," Putin stated. "And I would like to assure all our colleagues that we will continue the work that we started today on expanding the influence of BRICS in the world."
Chinese President Xi Jinping also commented on the interest from these newest BRICS members, calling it a "historic" moment that will further his country's determination to "unite and cooperate with developing countries."
"[It will] inject new impetus into the BRICS cooperation mechanism and further strengthen the power of world peace and development," Xi said.
Similar sentiments were expressed by Indian President Narendra Modi who welcomed the expansion of BRICS, stating that he believes the more members the merrier.
In a public statement that appeared on the Saudi television channel Al Arabiya, the Saudi foreign minister also added that BRICS has "proven itself to be a useful and important channel to strengthen economic cooperation with countries of the so-called Global South."
Bin Farhan had earlier stated at the conference that Saudi Arabia will continue to be a "secure and reliable energy provider" across the bloc, with total bilateral trade between itself and the other BRICS members topping $160 billion in 2022.
Saudi Arabia's presence in BRICS is significant in that the country is currently the world's largest exporter of crude oil. Meanwhile, China is the world's largest crude oil importer.
The fact that both Russia and Saudi Arabia are also both members of OPEC+, a group of the world's largest oil producers, poses a challenge in that there are now crossovers between competing economic blocs.
"The two countries often coordinate their oil output, which has in the past put Saudi Arabia at odds with its ally, the United States," reported CNN about the matter.
"The bloc's expansion raises the question of potential de-dollarization, a process by which members would gradually switch to using currencies other than the U.S. dollar to conduct trade. The BRICS countries have also been talking about a common currency ..."
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