The decision on the expansion of the BRICS economic bloc, expected on Wednesday evening, was delayed after the closed-door meeting held by leaders of the bloc on the sidelines of the summit in Johannesburg failed to reach a consensus.
Officials said a declaration might be made on Thursday. However, Reuters reported that the delay was due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's push for a new admission criteria. The report quoted an Indian official who said the discussion was continuing. "Yesterday ... India pushed for consensus on criteria as well as the issue of (candidate) names. There was a broad understanding," he said.
The BRICS country official also told Reuters that the admission criteria India's Modi proposed included requiring members not to be the target of international sanctions, ruling out potential candidates Iran and Venezuela. Modi was also pushing for a minimum per capita GDP requirement. "These are the things Modi brought in today," the official said on Wednesday. "So they are becoming a little bit of a spoiler."
Over 20 countries have applied to join BRICS, which was formed by Brazil, Russia, India and China in 2009. Besides Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates have also applied for admission to the bloc.
The current members must arrive at a consensus for new countries to join the bloc as BRICS is consensus-based and decisions are only made if all five agree. While China and Russia have pushed for expansion, others have only given their approval more recently. "We welcome moving forward on this based on consensus, Modi said, also giving his support to expansion.
The expansion will be a major shot in the arm for China and Russia to form a symbolic coalition against the West, thereby serving their geopolitical interests.
Summit host South Africa's foreign minister Naledi Pandor, speaking on Wednesday, said BRICS leaders had agreed on mechanisms for considering new members."We have agreed on the matter of expansion," she told a radio station run by her ministry."We have a document that we've adopted which sets out guidelines and principles, processes for considering countries that wish to become members of BRICS...That's very positive."
Rival to US hegemony?
The US maintained that it did not see the bloc turning into a geopolitical rival of the United States "due to the BRICS countries' divergence of views on critical issues", but regional analysts feel the move to expand the bloc and further, its New Development Bank as an alternative to established multilateral lenders are a source of worry to the US.
