BRICS PLUS: China proposes new name as member states agree on expansion
The group on Thursday (24 August) invited Saudi Arabia, Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt, Argentina and the United Arab Emirates to join as members
As leaders of the BRICS group of developing nations invited new six members to join the organisation, China has proposed that its name be changed to BRICS Plus, reports South African online news outlet TimesLIVE.
The group on Thursday (24 August) invited Saudi Arabia, Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt, Argentina and the United Arab Emirates to join as members. Their membership is due to come into effect from next year.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russia's leader Vladimir Putin, who have been the biggest proponents of expansion, suggested that the new name be Brics Plus.
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This has been reported on in the past but has now been formally proposed by China at the 15th Brics summit in Johannesburg this week, according to TimesLIVE.
"I am glad there is growing enthusiasm in developing countries about participating in Brics co-operation and quite a number of them have applied to join this co-operation mechanism," said Xi.
"We need to make good use of the Brics Plus co-operation format and accelerate the expansion process to bring more countries into the family, to pool our strengths and wisdom to make global governance more just and equitable."
