Brazilian president backs BRICS expansion

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said he supported the expansion of the BRICS. According to him, for this it is necessary to develop a regulation, transmits TASS.

Earlier union expansion supported China and South Africa. On August 16, Indian Foreign Minister Subramanyam Jaishankar said that India has an open view on the admission of new members to the BRICS, but specific criteria are needed for this. 23 countries have already applied to join the BRICS.

In the Kremlin before declaredthat Russia adheres to the position that, in one form or another, the expansion of the BRICS will contribute to the development and strengthening of the organization. According to the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov, during the BRICS summit, it will be discussed in what form and to what extent this can happen.

August 2 Reuters, citing three Brazilian officials informedthat Brazil is the main opponent of the expansion of the BRICS. At the end of July, similar information was published by Bloomberg. According to the publication, along with Brazil, India was also against the expansion. Later at the Indian Foreign Ministry refuted this information.

BRICS was founded in June 2006 as part of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum. Initially, the association included Brazil, Russia, India and China. In 2020, South Africa joined it. The 15th BRICS Summit is being held in Johannesburg (South Africa) from 22 to 24 August. Russian President Vladimir Putin will take part in it via video link. Directly on the site, Moscow is represented by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.