Algeria fast tracks its own BRICS membership
Algeria has come up with a novel way of fast-tracking its BRICS membership bid. Money.
Algeria has applied to join the BRICS group and submitted a request to become a shareholder member of BRICS Bank with an amount of $1.5 billion, Ennahar TV quoted Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune as saying, according to Reuters.
It added that Tebboune said at the end of his visit to China that Algeria had sought to join the BRICS to open new economic opportunities.
The BRICS group of nations comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. It presently accounts for more than 40 percent of the world’s population and about 26 percent of the global economy.
“We officially applied to join the BRICS group, we sent a letter asking to be shareholder members in the bank … Algeria’s first contribution in the bank will be $1.5 billion,” Ennahar quoted Tebboune as saying.
More than 40 countries have expressed interest in joining the BRICS group of nations, South Africa’s top diplomat in charge of relations with the bloc said this week a trend which has emerged since the war in Ukraine started, largely due to many global south countries no longer wanting to be vulnerable to US sanctions.
Argentina, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Cuba, Democratic Republic of Congo, Comoros, Gabon, and Kazakhstan are among countries that expressed interest.
China will invest $36 billion in Algeria across sectors including manufacturing, new technology, the knowledge economy, transport, and agriculture, local media quoted Tebboune as saying this week.
