Report: Saudi Arabia Still Pondering BRICS Membership

Facts

• Reuters reported on Thursday, citing two sources familiar with the matter, that Saudi Arabia is still considering whether to accept an invitation to join the BRICS group of nations, as Riyadh weighs the pros and cons amid mounting tensions between two members of the bloc — China and Russia — and the US.¹
• This comes as both Minister of Economy and Planning Faisal Al Ibrahim and Minister of Commerce Majid Al-Qasabi said during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that the Kingdom hasn't officially become a member of the group of emerging economies yet.²
• Earlier this month, Saudi state-run media reported that the oil-rich country had joined the bloc after the proposed joining date of Jan. 1 passed, only to remove the reports from its online pages later. No explanation had been given until this week.³
• Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the integration of Saudi Arabia into BRICS is an ongoing process that Moscow considers very important, adding that the matter was discussed during Russia's Vladimir Putin's recent visit to Riyadh.⁴
• Saudi Arabia was among the six countries invited to join the BRICS in August last year, including Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, and Argentina.¹
• Argentina declined the invitation as its newly-elected libertarian president, Javier Milei, made good on his campaign promise not to join BRICS — a move that he considered 'not... appropriate at this time' in letters sent to BRICS leaders.⁵

Sources: ¹Reuters, ²Bloomberg, ³Arab News, ⁴TASS and ⁵Buenos Aires Times.

Narratives

• Anti-China narrative, as provided by The Diplomat. BRICS is merely a notoriety-seeking PRC-dominated group that comprises countries that have nothing in common except the ambition to attain relevance in geopolitical affairs. Each nation certainly has its own reasons for applying to join the group, but ultimately, doing so can only deepen its dependence on China.
• Pro-China narrative, as provided by China Focus. The more that BRICS expands, the closer the world will be to a new, multipolar international order — with a robust, peacebuilding China —based on win-win cooperation and mutual respect that will replace the centuries-old exploitive Western dominance system. It's outrageous that the US and its allies keep judging the bloc and its members by their own standards.

Predictions