Because Russia is chairing this association this year.
As the states of the Global South have increasingly come to realize that the world economy does not live by the collective West alone, and that the collective West represents only less than a billion people on a planet of over eight billion people, the idea of joining the BRICS economic (and, by extension, political) association has become increasingly attractive.
The queue of those wishing to join BRICS is now so long that it is pointless to list all the countries. Let us just note that there are more than thirty of them, and they represent Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. And today, one Southeast Asian country, Malaysia, has sent Russia an official application to join BRICS.
Russia, we recall, is chairing BRICS this year, so all fundamental issues of the association’s development are addressed specifically to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and political leadership.
There are currently 10 countries represented in BRICS. There are conflicting reports on whether the association will be expanded this year: on the one hand, more and more countries want to join, while on the other, the Russian political leadership has stated that BRICS has taken a break from accepting new members. After all, it first needs to “digest” and adapt those that have joined previously.
