The original member states of BRICS, an international organization of world economies, consisted of Brazil, Russia, India, and China. South Africa formally joined in 2010 and attended the 3rd BRICS summit. The organization expanded again in 2024, with Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates attending the 16th BRICS summit as official members. In January 2025 Indonesia joined the organization. Many other countries are partner states or have applied to join.
Partner states are a new category for integration of prospective members, introduced in 2024 at the 16th BRICS summit in Kazan, the Russian Federation. These countries are observer states that are not yet officially part of the BRICS bloc, yet would get support from BRICS members. These observer states must prove themselves as partners before possibly integrating as a member, similar to the accession process of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. [8] 13 states were invited to be formal partners; the following 9 states then ensured their partnership status by January 2025, while Indonesia acceded into the core membership.
Three more countries had been invited to join the BRICS bloc as observer partner states like the ones listed above but have not yet confirmed that status as of mid-January 2025. [8]
| Flag | Country | Capital | Area (km2) | Population (2016) | Density (/km2) | GDP per cap. (PPP) | HDI | Currency | Official languages | Leaders | Application submitted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Algeria People's Democratic Republic of Algeria | Algiers | 2,381,741 | 46,700,000 | 19 | 16,483 | 0.745 | Algerian dinar (DZD) | Arabic | ||
 | Turkey Republic of Türkiye | Ankara | 783,562 | 85,372,377 | 111 | 40,283 | 0.855 | Turkish lira (TRY) | Turkish | Head of State and Government: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan | |
 | Vietnam Socialist Republic of Vietnam | Hanoi | 331,344.82 | 100,300,000 | 298 | 15,470 | 0.726 | Vietnamese đồng (VND) | Vietnamese | Head of State: Lương Cường Head of Government: Phạm Minh Chính |
Saudi Arabia was invited to join at the 15th BRICS summit, but has not yet formalised its approval to become a BRICS member. [9]
While Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates were not admitted as members during the 15th BRICS summit, they were among 22 countries applying for membership. South African Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana said “There is a second batch of countries that are going to be added [to] BRICS." This means that there are plans for further BRICS expansion and the following countries are possible candidates due to their applications for membership [10]
In 2011, Indonesia considered the possibility of joining BRICS. In 2022 the country formally submitted an application, but Indonesian president Joko Widodo decided not to join the group and to withdraw the application because it was considered a rushed decision. Widodo said that in future he would probably reapply, but Indonesia is out for now. Widodo never reapplied before he stepped down as president in 2024. [14] However, the consideration of Indonesia joining BRICS is said to be decided by President Prabowo Subianto according to Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi. [15] Indonesia has restarted the application process as announced by Foreign Minister Sugiono after the 16th BRICS summit. [16]
In 2022, Argentina formally submitted an application for BRICS membership under Alberto Fernández's government. Argentina was invited to join at the subsequent 2023 summit, but the country declined the offer to join the bloc in the aftermath of pro-Western Javier Milei's victory in that year's presidential election. [17]
Algeria had previously applied for membership in 2023, [18] but later rejected it in September 2024, making Algeria the second country after Argentina to decline and stop its application. [19]
Following the 2024 BRICS summit, Brazil blocked Venezuela's application to the bloc, largely due to the disputed 2024 Venezuelan elections and the ongoing Venezuelan crisis. Venezuela recalled its ambassador from Brazil in response. [20]
The Union of South American Nations (USAN), sometimes also referred to as the South American Union, abbreviated in Spanish as UNASUR and in Portuguese as UNASUL, is an intergovernmental regional organization. It once comprised twelve South American countries; as of 2019, most have withdrawn. It was set up by Hugo Chavez to counteract the influence of the United States in the region.
BRIC is a term describing the foreign investment strategies grouping acronym that stands for Brazil, Russia, India, and China. The separate BRICS organisation would go on to become a political and economic organization largely based on such grouping. The grouping has been rendered as "the BRICs", "the BRIC countries", "the BRIC economies", the "Big Four", or inclusive of South Africa as "the BRICS".
The G4 nations, comprising Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan, are four countries which support each other's bids for permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council. Unlike the G7, where the common denominator is the economy and long-term political motives, the G4's primary aim is the permanent member seats on the Security Council. Each of these four countries have figured among the elected non-permanent members of the council since the UN's establishment. Their economic, political and military influence has grown significantly in the last decades, reaching a scope comparable to the permanent members (P5). However, the G4's bids are often opposed by the Uniting for Consensus movement, and particularly their economic competitors or political rivals.
The G20 or Group of 20 is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 sovereign countries, the European Union (EU), and the African Union (AU). It works to address major issues related to the global economy, such as international financial stability, climate change mitigation and sustainable development, through annual meetings of Heads of State and Heads of Government.
Prabowo Subianto Djojohadikusumo is an Indonesian politician, businessman, and retired army general serving as the eighth president of Indonesia since 2024. He was previously the 26th minister of defense under president Joko Widodo from 2019 to 2024. Prabowo is Indonesia's third president to have a military background after Suharto and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and is described as a right-wing nationalist.
The Southern Common Market, commonly known by Spanish abbreviation Mercosur, and Portuguese Mercosul, is a South American trade bloc established by the Treaty of Asunción in 1991 and Protocol of Ouro Preto in 1994. Its full members are Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Venezuela is a full member but has been suspended since 1 December 2016. Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Panama, Peru, and Suriname are associate countries. Bolivia became a full member on 8 July 2024.
The Twelfth G-15 summit was held in Caracas, Venezuela on February 27–28, 2004.
Currently, Mercosur is composed of five full members, Seven associated countries and two observer countries:
The integration of Latin America has a history going back to Spanish American and Brazilian independence, when there was discussion of creating a regional state or confederation of Latin American nations to protect the area's newly won autonomy. After several projects failed, the issue was not taken up again until the late 19th century, but now centered on the issue of international trade and with a sense of Pan-Americanism, owing to the United States of America taking a leading role in the project. The idea of granting these organizations a primarily political purpose did not become prominent again until the post-World War II period, which saw both the start of the Cold War and a climate of international cooperation that led to the creation of institutions such as the United Nations. It would not be until the mid-20th century that uniquely Latin American organizations were created.
The enlargement of the Associationof Southeast Asian Nations is the process of expanding the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) through the accession of new member states. This process began with ASEAN's five original members, who founded the association through the signing of the Bangkok Declaration in 1967. Since then, the ASEAN's membership has grown to ten with the accession of Cambodia in 1999.
BRICS is an intergovernmental organization consisting of ten countries—Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. It is considered to be a counterpart and alternative to the G7 bloc of the world's largest economies and combined represent nearly half of the world's population.
The New Development Bank (NDB), formerly referred to as the BRICS Development Bank, is a multilateral development bank established by the BRICS states. According to the Agreement on the NDB, "the Bank shall support public or private projects through loans, guarantees, equity participation and other financial instruments." Moreover, the NDB "shall cooperate with international organizations and other financial entities, and provide technical assistance for projects to be supported by the Bank."
The 6th BRICS summit was the sixth annual diplomatic meeting of the BRICS, a grouping of major emerging economies that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. It was hosted by Brazil, as the first host country of the current five-year summit cycle; the host city was Fortaleza. Though Brazil had previously hosted a four-member BRIC summit in April 2010, 2014 marked its first full BRICS summit; the 2010 summit in Brasília did not officially include South Africa, who were only invited as guests as a prelude to their gaining full membership in December 2010. Argentine President Cristina Kirchner was a special guest of the summit, and the BRICS leaders met with their UNASUR counterparts shortly after. The 6th BRICS summit resulted in the official inauguration of the New Development Bank, a multilateral development bank intended as an alternative to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
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Third Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement on 8–10 September 1970 in Lusaka, Zambia was the third conference of the Non-Aligned Movement. A preparatory meeting of Foreign Ministers drafted a number of resolutions which were considered by the Summit Conference. President of Zambia Kenneth Kaunda opened the conference by underlining non-alignment as "the natural choice at the time of increased hostility created by ideological conflicts in the bipolar world"
The 2023 BRICS summit was the fifteenth annual BRICS summit, an international relations conference attended by the heads of state or heads of government of the five member states: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa also invited the leaders of 67 countries to the summit.
The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a forum of 120 countries that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. It was founded with the view to advancing interests of developing countries in the context of Cold War confrontation. After the United Nations, it is the largest grouping of states worldwide.
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Sugiono is an Indonesian politician currently serving as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, a position he assumed in 2024 under President Prabowo Subianto's administration. Prior to his appointment as foreign minister, Sugiono held the role of Deputy Chairman of the First Commission of the House of Representatives from 2019 to 2024, where he was responsible for overseeing defense, foreign affairs, and communications.
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