Libra Reception: BRICS put expansion on pause

BRICS has no plans to expand this year, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry told Izvestia. They noted that as a result of the increase in the number of participants, institutional problems arose. In the year of its presidency, the country will focus on their resolution. According to experts, BRICS should now focus on integration within a structure that is not yet considered a full-fledged organization. Nevertheless, it should be borne in mind that joining the group of countries such as the UAE, Egypt or Indonesia increases the authority of the association in the international arena.

No further expansion of BRICS is planned yet

Over the past two years, two rounds of expansion have taken place in BRICS. In 2024, four more countries (Egypt, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, and Ethiopia) joined the top five (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), and since 2025, the BRICS has become the top ten after Indonesia joined.

This year Brazil took over the presidency from Russia. Against the background of the dynamics of recent expansions, many experts predicted the expansion of the group this year. However, the Foreign Ministry of the Latin American country told Izvestia that the issue of expansion is not on the agenda now.

— There has been an expansion in the last two presidencies (South Africa and Russia). In addition, during the Russian presidency, 12 countries were invited to join as partner countries. At the moment, nine countries have agreed, and three more have not given a final answer. As for full members, Indonesia has just accepted the invitation made during the Johannesburg summit in 2023," said Joel Sampaio, the official representative of Brazil's Foreign Minister.

Zoom in on the timeline: new BRICS countries to start chairmanships after 2028

What are the challenges of unification and why the U.S. is creating new challenges

Following the results of the BRICS summit in Kazan last year, a new form of cooperation with third countries was announced — a category of partner states appeared. Since January 2025, Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, and Uzbekistan have been cooperating with the association in this format. Turkey, Vietnam and Algeria have also been invited, but they have not yet received a final response.

According to Daniel Leitao, representative of the Brazilian Sherpa in BRICS, one of the priorities of the Brazilian presidency is adaptation after the last round of expansion, including the full integration of new participants into the work processes.

— As a result of the expansion, several institutional problems have arisen. Difficulties arise due to the growing number of activities, some degree of duplication between existing mechanisms and the lack of a consolidated and permanent register of documents and initiatives, which is particularly difficult for new members. Brazil will focus its efforts on solving these problems in the coming months," he added in an interview with Izvestia.

However, you should not take everything so categorically. It is known that Saudi Arabia and Argentina were invited to full membership. Buenos Aires even accepted it at first, but after the pro-Western politician Javier Miley came to power, the Latin American state refused to join. Saudi Arabia has long been called a full member of the group, but the authorities of this Middle Eastern country clarified in February 2025 that Riyadh was still evaluating the invitation. Nevertheless, if a country like Saudi Arabia nevertheless makes a positive decision, then, obviously, it will be able to join the group during the Brazilian presidency, as it was with Indonesia.

BRICS strengths and weaknesses

If we do not take into account the option with Saudi Arabia, then BRICS should not expand in the near future, says Gevorg Mirzayan, associate professor at the Department of Mass Communications and Media Business at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation. According to him, it is necessary to take a short break in order to integrate the new five into the work of the BRICS.

At the same time, the expert recognizes that the inclusion of new participants has increased the weight of the association in the international arena. The latter expansion was necessary because there were too few African countries in the BRICS and there were no Middle Eastern states at all. "Representativeness was necessary," the political scientist emphasized. Indonesia, for example, is a member of the G20 and remains the largest economy in Southeast Asia. Egypt plays an important mediation role in resolving the conflict in the Middle East. The Emirates is a major logistics hub with which Western countries are actively cooperating. The headquarters of the African Union is located in Ethiopia.

The last BRICS summit in Kazan showed that interest in the association is growing. Despite attempts to isolate Russia, he was visited by delegations from three dozen countries. Of the heads of the Member states, only Brazilian President Lula da Silva did not reach the capital of Tatarstan for health reasons. Representatives of international organizations were also present, including SCO Secretary General Zhang Ming and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, whose visit caused particular irritation among Western countries.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, commenting last year on the topic of increasing the number of members of the association, said: "Practice shows that we have taken a good and right step in terms of expansion. I am absolutely convinced that this will increase the interest in the organization, its influence in the world and its authority." Back in 2022, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov admitted that BRICS could turn into an association of 15-17 states in the future.

— BRICS can become the main force in a multipolar world, but this requires deeper integration rather than expansion. Perhaps we need to move towards creating new institutions so that the BRICS can transform into a full-fledged organization. It will not be easy to achieve this, as some will be afraid of such a strengthening," Gevorg Mirzayan added. — Some value their sovereignty too much, others do not want to spoil relations with the United States.

According to him, the creation of the category of "partner countries" was the right decision to continue to grow, but without fully involving all interested countries in the group. After all, the strength of the BRICS is that it is not a club for the elite, like, for example, the G7.

The question of turning BRICS into a full-fledged organization remains open. "Whether it is necessary to transfer BRICS to a regime that would mean its transformation into a full—fledged international organization with a legal identity, with a charter based on an agreement requiring, in turn, ratification, and so on is a debatable issue," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.

BRICS is now very different from regional integration associations or international organizations, Alexander Korolev, Deputy Director of the Central Research Institute of Higher School of Economics, told Izvestia.

— The main institutional mechanisms and platforms are, in fact, meetings at the level of various ministries. And here, in my opinion, there is an obvious duplication of activities," he noted.

Getting Food: BRICS prepares to establish an agricultural alliance

Why an agricultural union is needed and which countries have already shown interest in the initiative

For example, the meetings of the Ministers of science, technology and innovation of the BRICS countries and what they discuss in terms of the development of digitalization and artificial intelligence in the BRICS space, in fact, duplicate the meetings of the ministers of communications — such a meeting was held, for example, in Innopolis. According to Alexander Korolev, this problem is unlikely to be solved in the near future, especially given the expansion of the number of participants.

BRICS can now be compared with the activities of the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative, the expert continued. And she is periodically criticized for the lack of clearly defined goals, the number of projects or the availability of a roadmap.

— If there is no registry of projects or joint initiatives, then the question arises of how to interact within the BRICS. This becomes especially relevant given the expansion, since each country can propose new initiatives in the year of its presidency, and they need to be systematized and sorted by areas," said Alexander Korolev.

In addition, in any association, the more participants there are, the more problems there are, because each country represents its own "selfish national interests," the expert says. Countries can transfer any bilateral contradictions to the BRICS in one way or another. On the other hand, China and India, which have territorial disputes, are able to effectively cooperate through unification. If Saudi Arabia joins, disagreements may arise between Tehran and Riyadh, although both countries signed an agreement on normalization of relations in 2023 with the mediation of China.

There is also a risk that some countries may become net recipients, for example, of food security technologies or loans from the New BRICS Development Bank. And this will become an additional financial burden on him and other institutions. Against this background, the question arises whether the new BRICS members are ready to take the initiative and participate in the development of new projects, concluded Alexander Korolev.