The economist who coined the term BRIC in 2001 to denote the alliance of emerging countries formed by Brazil, Russia, India and China – the S, from South Africa (in English) would come later – was surprised yesterday by the bloc’s decision to open its doors to six new countries: Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia and Iran. “I don’t think there was any objective criterion to determine which countries would be invited to join”Briton Jim O’Neill told the BBC.
This ended yesterday’s Johannesburg summit (where Russian President Vladimir Putin was absent due to an international arrest warrant). ‘historic’ expansion, as Chinese President Xi Jinping called it. “The expansion is also a new starting point for BRICS cooperation. It will give new strength to the cooperation mechanism and further strengthen the strength for world peace and development”, added. China has defended the expansion, expecting it to counterbalance the G7 amid a clash with the US.
Source: DN
