BRICS By the Numbers 2023 Meeting in South Africa

                      BRICS is holding its own when it comes to Population, Global GDP, and World Land Area

BRICS leaders meet in South Africa next week, August 22nd to the 24th, to discuss how to turn a loose club of nations accounting for a quarter of the global economy into a geopolitical force that can challenge the West’s dominance in world affairs.

Russian President Putin, who faces an international arrest warrant over alleged war crimes in Ukraine, will not join leaders in South Africa to discuss the expansion.

The channel reported on this issue in an earlier video. There is a link to this video in the upper right-hand corner.

No reliable details have emerged about what the group will discuss, but expansion is expected to be high on the agenda, as some 40 nations have shown interest in joining BRICS. They include Saudi Arabia, Argentina, and Egypt, among others.

China is seeking to expand its geopolitical influence and wants to enlarge BRICS quickly.

Brazil is resisting expansion, fearing the group could see its stature diluted by new members.

In a written response to Reuters questions, China’s foreign ministry said it “supports progress in expanding membership and welcomes more like-minded partners to join the ‘Brics family’ at an early date.”

Russia needs friends to counter its diplomatic isolation over Ukraine, so Putin also wants to bring in new members.

India is on the fence.

South Africa’s foreign minister, in a statement, effectively said BRICS nations wanted to show “global leadership in addressing the needs of the majority of the world, namely, development and inclusion of the Global South in multilateral systems,”

Undeveloped countries are looking to BRICS to help lift them out of poverty. And the concerning issue for the Big Five is what will it do to their economies if they take on too much responsibility.

You may also want to read what the man who coined the phrase "BRICS" has to say about a BRICS currency.