Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said today that he wants Argentina to join the BRICS group, reports Reuters, quoted by BTA.
The agency notes that this comes at a time when Brazil’s neighboring country is trying to combat a lack of foreign reserves.
“It is very important for Argentina to be in BRICS,” Lula said in a live social media post while attending the group’s summit in South Africa.
BRICS focuses on strengthening economic and trade cooperation between the member countries Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Argentina is struggling with historically high inflation, a lack of foreign reserves and debt repayments that are part of its $44 billion settlement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Lula criticized the IMF’s loans as “suffocating” and hinted at the possibility of the BRICS bank increasing loans to other countries with “different criteria” to stimulate their economies.
Argentina, whose biggest trading partner is Brazil, has already said it intends to join the BRICS group.
However, the South American country will hold a presidential election next month and the winner of the primary, far-right ultra-liberal candidate Javier Millay, has criticized China and Brazil.
Lula also said he supported other countries joining, mentioning Indonesia as a potential new member. He later added in a speech at a business forum that the new partners would help BRICS increase its ties internationally.
We remind you that from August 22 to 24, 2023, the 15th summit of the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) will be held in Johannesburg. With the virtual participation of Russian President Putin already confirmed, diplomatic difficulties due to the arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court can be avoided.
Now the focus is again on the further development of the organization. In the eventual expansion of the membership with important commodity powers, BRICS could establish itself as the voice of the Global South and at the same time expand its global political role. However, China’s preeminence within BRICS is viewed critically by the other members – they do not want to submit to Beijing’s quest for global political supremacy. Nevertheless, the West will have to actively deal with the increased self-confidence of the BRICS countries and their ideas about international order.