BRICS BLOC BROADENS

Johannesburg: At a joint media briefing in Johannesburg, South African President and Summit host Cyril Ramaphosa, along with PM Modi, China’s Jinping and Brazilian Pres Silva, said, “We have consensus on the first phase of this BRICS expansion process… We have decided to invite Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to become full members of BRICS.”

As BRICS expands from 5 to 11, Modi said it’s a message to all global bodies as new members will give new energy and direction to the grouping, adding, India has always fully supported expansion of BRICS and believed that addition of new members will further strengthen grouping.