Chinese President Xi Jinping called on Wednesday for accelerating the expansion of the BRICS economic grouping, which is made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, a goal that China, the world’s second-largest economy, has had it for a long time.
At the meeting of the leaders of these countries in the South African capital, Johannesburg, Chinese President Xi said he was pleased to see the enthusiasm of developing countries to meet as well as many other countries that have applied for membership of the group. .
“We must allow more countries to join the BRICS family to expand capabilities and efforts to make global governance fairer and more equitable,” Mr. Xi said.
The leaders of the countries of the BRICS group are today reviewing the rules for accepting new members.
South Africa said last month that more than 40 other countries have expressed interest in joining BRICS, an organization that aims to balance the dominance of the West, led by the United States, in global affairs. According to Johannesburg, twenty-two of them have already applied for membership.
China has long called for the expansion of the BRICS group, hoping that expanding it with new members would give more power to the group of countries that already make up about 40 percent of the world’s population and 25 percent of the world’s population. percent of the Gross Domestic Product of the global economy.
Russia is also interested in expanding the group, with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa expressing support for the idea during a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi on Tuesday.
President Xi also said that BRICS countries have agreed to establish a study group on artificial intelligence and further expand cooperation in the field of artificial intelligence technology, including strengthening information exchange and technical cooperation.