Algeria: Je Suis BRICS (I am BRICS)

On the road to the BRICS summit in August: Algeria becomes the 22nd country to officially apply for membership in the group.

Less than a month before the start of the BRICS summit scheduled for August 22-24 in Johannesburg, South Africa, Algeria presented an official application for joining the group. At the same time, Algeria wanted to become a shareholder in the BRICS bank, the New Development Bank (NDB), with initial introductory 1.5 billion dollars. This became known in an interview of the President of Algeria, Abdelmajid Tebboune, with the Ennahar TV channel.

The founding countries of BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – are currently inhabited by over 40% of the world’s population, generating over 31% of global GDP. Despite the pressure from the West – Argentina recently surrendered to EU demands to postpone BRICS membership – this is the fastest growing group at a global level, as more than 40 states in all regions of the world in one way or another show aspirations for BRICS membership.

Besides Algeria, the list of countries that have officially announced their intention to join the group includes Iran (in June, it joined as a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization), Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Cuba, Congo, Kazakhstan, and Gabon.

“We asked to officially join the BRICS group, and we sent a letter with a request to be accepted as a shareholder partner of the NBR. Algeria’s first contribution to the bank’s capital could be $1.5 billion,” said the Algerian president.

Initially Tebboune announced his desire to join BRICS on July 18 during his trip to China, in order to be able to develop “strong economic ties with the members of the group.” For his part, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for stronger political and economic ties with Algeria, Africa’s largest gas exporter. In an interview with China’s CCTV, Tebboune said that BRICS could offer “effective and profitable solutions” compared to those offered to developing countries by international financial institutions such as the Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

On June 16, Tunisian President Kais Saied, in a telephone conversation with the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, also stated that his country would never again accept the dictates of the IMF. The Bretton Woods agreements are not the inevitable destiny of mankind,” said the Tunisian president, according to whom “our country will not accept neither the dictates nor the conditions set by the International Monetary Fund that, if implemented, would threaten the public peace and stability of Tunisia.”