MOSCOW/TASS/. Saudi Arabia has confirmed its membership in BRICS by participating in two group events in 2024, thereby solidifying the intergovernmental organization’s evolving structure,” stated Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov, who also serves as Moscow’s Sherpa in the group, during an interview for the inaugural issue of the TASS “BRICS Bulletin.”
“BRICS’ composition is now quite clear. President Putin declared on January 1 that five countries, including Saudi Arabia, were joining BRICS. Saudi Arabia neither denied this nor commented that this information was incorrect,” the senior diplomat highlighted. He stressed that Riyadh has already participated in “at least two BRICS events under Russia’s chairmanship.”
Ryabkov mentioned that Saudi representatives informed Moscow that “the decision-making process [on accession] is ongoing.” “We respect that. We observed that their Sherpa did not attend the first meeting of Sherpas and Sous-Sherpas in Moscow, but this neither negates nor invalidates the aforementioned facts,” the senior diplomat emphasized.
Initially, the BRICS group consisted of Brazil, Russia, India, and China. South Africa joined the association in 2011. On January 1, 2024, Egypt, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Ethiopia formally became members of BRICS, while Argentina declined the group’s invitation to join.
