CNN —Oil powers Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have been invited to become members of the BRICS group of developing nations in its first expansion in over a decade.
Total bilateral trade between Saudi Arabia and BRICS nations exceeded $160 billion in 2022, the Saudi foreign minister said.
It also means Russia and Saudi Arabia — both members of OPEC+, a group of major oil producers — will join each other in a new economic bloc.
The BRICS countries have also been talking about a common currency, an idea analysts have described as unworkable and “unlikely” in the near future.
Existing BRICS members have “had enough difficulty trying to agree just between the five of them,” he added.
Persons:
Cyril Ramaphosa, ” Ramaphosa, Vladimir Putin, ” Putin, Xi Jinping, ” Jinping, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Narendra Modi, Saudi Arabia —, —, Putin, Goldman Sachs, Jim O’Neill, ” O’Neill, “, ”, I’m, ” BRICS, Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan, Abdel Fattah el, Sisi, — Manveena Suri, Mostafa Salem, Lizzy Yee, Mengchen Zhang, Nadeen Ebrahim
Organizations:
CNN, Oil, United Arab, Saudi Foreign, Indian, OPEC, West, Western, Bloomberg, New Development Bank, United Arab Emirates, BRICS
Locations:
Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, Argentina, South, Johannesburg, Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Russian, BRICS, Saudi, United States, UAE