BRICS - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, are not an anti-West alliance, we are not seeking bloc confrontation. We are inviting more friends to join us and to seek cooperation. Again it’s not anti-West, it’s not bloc confrontation
The Director-General of the Department of International Economic Affairs of the Foreign Ministry of China Li Kexin says the BRICS nations were not an “anti-West” grouping.
Kexin said Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa was a group seeking cooperation among member states across the world.
“We are not an anti-West alliance, we are not seeking bloc confrontation. We are inviting more friends to join us and to seek cooperation. Again it’s not anti-West, it’s not bloc confrontation,” he said.
This follows reports that the bloc was anti-west and only accommodated the opposition parties to be part of them.
It was announced on Thursday that the BRICS countries had invited Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to join the bloc as of January 1, 2024.
Kexin made the comments during a media briefing on the outcomes of the summit after leaders announced expansion plans earlier on Thursday.
He said the purpose of the BRICS platform was to promote economic development and cooperation within countries that have been developing in recent decades.
“We don’t believe that we are creating a bloc against the other side. We are far from that part,” he said.
He indicated that more than 20 countries wanted to join the alliance after the BRICS summit that was hosted in Beijing last year.
Kexin said they were on the right path and footing if all these countries wanted to be part of the bloc.
“All these countries wanted to join BRICS, which means that we are doing the things that people want. We focus on the development and not confrontation,” he said.
He stated that the attraction of BRICS was doing business and developing each other. He said the bloc was open to anyone including the Western countries.
He further welcomed the BRICS decision to expand their membership to include other countries to participate and form part of the bloc.
To form part of the bloc’s membership, six countries, including Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, were invited to become new members as of January 1, 2024.
The announcement was made on Thursday, the final day of the BRICS summit, by BRICS leaders.
During the announcement, the leaders made it clear that they will fully be supportive of multilateralism and will address international issues to achieve peace and verbal security.
Furthermore, he described the summit to be a success and said that many people hoped for the outcomes.
He stressed that the BRICS countries should to strengthen cooperation including research on cross border human systems.
He added that the five nations will also assess the hotspot issues in the world.
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