Chief middle eastern nations have officially joined BRICS just days after Argentina declined entering into the intergovernmental agreement. 

Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and UAE joined the organization, as well as Ethiopia. 

The latest BRICS members make it a ten nation bloc, doubling the number of member countries from the original five founding nations of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

Considered the G7 counter-alliance, there are now ten BRICS nations that represent a populace of approximately half of the world and a combined GDP higher than $16 trillion.

Last year, a report suggested the original five BRICS countries were working towards developing a unified digital currency, but for now the group remains without one. 

Milei backs out of BRICS

Just days before the latest five nations officially joined the BRICS consortium on Jan. 1st, Argentina formally announced it would decline from joining, a reversal from the previous government’s stance.

This withdrawal from the application process comes after the election of the nation’s new president, Javier Milei, who has made a number of drastic economic and foreign policy changes after years of Socialist governments.

During his campaign, Milei heavily said “I am not going to do business with any communist,” a shot at the Chinese Government — and BRICS member.

Using a softer tone in a December 22 letter addressed to each member state, Milei stated that joining BRICS would not be “appropriate at this time.” 

However, in the letter Milei did propose to intensify bilateral ties and increase trade and investment with individual BRICS leaders.

The then campaigning hopeful also stated that his foreign policy would be different from his predecessors, saying that if he won, “my allies would be the United States and Israel.”