JOHANNESBURG, Aug 24 Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov joked that the BRICS association, which consisted of five countries, with the admission of six new full members, became like a football team.
During the summit, President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa announced the official invitation of Argentina, Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia to join the BRICS. He said that the full membership of the new countries that join the BRICS will begin on January 1, 2024.
«Every year at the General Assembly we gather at the ministerial level. Now, it seems to me, we will no longer wait for January 1, 2024, but will start contacts in advance, as future BRICS chairmen, with new members, to help them get into business, so that By the Kazan summit, all eleven — we have such a football team — all eleven were fully immersed in the issues that our chairmanship has already announced,» Lavrov told reporters.
August 21, 10:00 BRICS infographic: participants, history and weight in the global economyView