Leaders of the bloc of leading developing nations Brazil Russia India China and South Africa are meeting in Johannesburg . Discussions around establishing a framework and criteria for admitting new members topping the agenda . Bloc heavyweight China has long pushed for expansion and views its deteriorating relations with Washington as well as heightened global tensions resulting from the Ukraine war as adding urgency to the enlargement project .
Russia isolated by the United States and Europe over its invasion of Ukraine is also pushing to quickly grow BRICS and forge it into a counterweight to the West . The world is undergoing major shifts division and regrouping it has entered a new period of turbulence and transformation Xi said.
We should let more countries join the BRICS family to pool wisdom and efforts to make global governance more just and equitable Xi said . The bloc has agreed to launch a study group on artificial intelligence AI and further expand cooperation on AI including by strengthening information exchange and technical cooperation.
The group will also discuss boosting the use of local currencies in trade and financial transactions to lessen dependency on the US dollar is also on the summit agenda . The group countries have economies that are vastly different in scale and governments that often seem to have few foreign policy goals in common complicating decisionmaking.
The economy of China for example is more than times larger than South Africas Africas . The leaders will also agree to discuss a common BRICS currency. The meeting will also focus on BRICS . The meeting is expected to discuss the BRics. The conference will also include the BRICs.
The summit will also consider a common currency. South African organisers had said there would be no discussions of a BRICS. There will be no discussion of a commonBRICS.
