"Five out of six invited countries have confirmed their membership in BRICS, namely Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Ethiopia, Iran and Egypt," South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said on January 31.

At a summit in Johannesburg last August, BRICS, a bloc comprising China, Russia, Brazil, India and South Africa, invited the five countries and Argentina to join the bloc in order to "reform the outdated world order".

Argentina's then-president Alberto Fernandez said joining BRICS would open up "new contexts" for the country.

However, Argentina on December 29, 2023, rejected the invitation to join BRICS, a few weeks after new President Javier Milei took office.

"Argentina has written to say that it will not act on the previous administration's application for full membership of BRICS. We accept their decision," the South African foreign minister said.

President Milei wrote in the letter that his foreign policy "differs in many aspects from that of the previous government. Therefore, some previous decisions will be reconsidered." Milei also stressed Argentina's commitment to strengthening bilateral relations with BRICS members and looked forward to meeting the bloc's leaders.

BRICS is a group of emerging economies that account for more than 40% of the world's population and about a quarter of the world's GDP. South Africa is the current chair.

Huyen Le (According to Reuters )