DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 19,2023: Saudi Arabia is still considering an invitation to become a member of the BRICS bloc of countries after being asked to join by the group last year, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Thursday.
The group in August invited Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Iran, Argentina, and Ethiopia to join starting Jan. 1, although Argentina signaled it would not take up the invitation in November.
The two sources said Jan. 1 was not a deadline for a decision, with one adding there were strong benefits to joining the bloc as members China and India are the kingdom’s biggest trading partners.
“Saudi Arabia is assessing the benefits and then will make a decision, there is a process happening,” one of the sources said.
The expansion of the group would add economic heft to the BRICS, whose current members are China, Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa. It could also amplify its declared ambition to become a champion of the Global South.
Faisal Alibrahim, Saudi Arabia’s economy minister, later confirmed the kingdom was still in a decision-making process on joining the bloc.
“The kingdom is a part of many multilateral platforms and multilateral institutions and whenever the kingdom is invited into one of them it goes through a process that is a multi-step process and at the end of it a decision is made,” he told Reuters in an interview.
“Right now we are in a similar process and I will comment at the end of it.”
Riyadh is weighing its options against a backdrop of rising geopolitical tensions between the U.S., China and Russia, and as the kingdom’s warming ties with Beijing have caused concern in Washington.
Despite its strong ties with the U.S., Saudi Arabia has increasingly pursued its own path out of concern that Washington is less committed to the Gulf’s security than in the past.
