Strasbourg 15.06.2023 Nearly 20 countries are seeking to obtain BRICS membership and a group of willing continues to extend, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told TASS news agency.

“The list of candidates for joining the association continues to increase. The number of states seeking to join this association is nearing twenty. It reflects BRICS’ growing and already considerable role in the international arena as an association of countries with similar positions. I would like to stress it,” he said.

BRICS is a assembly of countries that do not follow the leader-follower principle, Ryabkov said. Instead, the partners “set a constructive agenda based on consensus,” he said.

“Discussions continue on what could be the criteria for joining BRICS, and South Africa has intensified this work,” the senior Russian diplomat said.

“I can say that, in our view, the Arab world and the Asia-Pacific region have been clearly `begging’ to join BRICS, as they have no representation there today. But we will see exactly what we can offer to the leaders regarding this, and leave this to the leaders to decide at the summit in Johannesburg,” the diplomat said.

According to French media reports, President Emmanuel Macron asked South African President Cyril Ramaphosa for an invitation to the BRICS Summit scheduled for August.
This news has not been confirmed by the Élysée Palace yet, and the spokesperson for the South African president claimed to be unaware of Macron’s request.
Moscow has asked Paris to provide an explanation, being suspicions about the intentions, suggesting Macron would play a Trojan horse. This news has garnered significant attention, but there are varying attitudes among different parties. French media commented, “this is a bit crazy and unprecedented.”