Argentina Formally Rejects BRICS Membership: Reasons, and Consequences

January 1, 2024

Context: This editorial is based on the news “Why Argentina decided against joining BRICS” which was published in the Live Mint. Recently, Argentina rejected the invitation to join the BRICS (comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).

Relevancy for Prelims: BRICS, and BRICS Summit 2023.

Relevancy for Mains: Withdrawal Of Argentina From BRICS Bloc- its impact and challenges for BRICS.

Argentina Invited to Joint BRICS Membership

In August 2023: The BRICS grouping, during its summit in South Africa in August, invited six countries including Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE to join the bloc, which has been looking to grow its influence.
Controversial over Expansion as an anti-Western bloc: At the time of the BRICS summit in August, many speculated that China and Russia were pushing for an expansion of BRICS to turn it into an anti- Western bloc.
India’s Reaction: India publicly welcomed the expansion of BRICS. However, insisted on laying down concrete rules and procedures to regulate the entry of new members into the grouping.

Why did Argentina Reject BRICS Membership? – Reasons

Need to Review: As per the new Argentina’s President, the decision to join BRICS had been taken by the previous administration and the new dispensation was reviewing such policies.
Geopolitical Alignment: Argentina’s new President is considered to be a radical and right-wing populist. He is critical of China and BRICS as well. He argued that their geopolitical alignment is with the United States and Israel and not with communists.

Argentina Reject BRICS Membership: Consequences

Question on Potential: This withdrawal may be unwelcome for BRICS. It was initially conceptualized as a grouping of five major developing economies that would grow rapidly and dominate global growth by 2050.
- Russia, Brazil and South Africa have struggled economically, while India and China have performed steadily.
Impact on Relevance: With conflicts of India and China, the prospects of closer cooperation among the member nations seem bleak. Argentina’s rejection will only add questions on BRICS relevance.

About BRICS

The term BRIC was first introduced in 2001.
The British Economist Jim O’Neill coined the term BRIC to describe the four emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, and China. However, the grouping was formalized in 2006.
BRIC transformed into BRICS with the entry of South Africa in December 2010.
Its chairmanship is rotated annually among the members, in accordance with the acronym B-R-I-C-S.