MOSCOW, January 1. /TASS/. Five new members (Egypt, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia) formally become full-fledged members of the BRICS group, and commence joint work in that capacity, on January 1 under the chairmanship of Russia, which takes over from outgoing chair South Africa.

Argentina was slated to become the sixth new member of the intergovernmental association, but on December 29 new Argentinian President Javier Milei officially notified the BRICS members that his country will decline the group’s invitation to join issued after its August 2023 summit in Johannesburg. In his letter, Milei said that he did not consider his country’s participation in the BRICS group to be appropriate at this time.

As Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated, during its year-long chairmanship Moscow will do everything possible to ensure that the five new BRICS members can "harmoniously integrate into the operating mode of the organization."

While preparing to take over from Pretoria as BRICS chair, Moscow has repeatedly stated that it will continue the course toward expanding the group‘s global influence. Among Moscow’s priorities will be the creation of a common trade settlement mechanism within the BRICS economies.

"This chairmanship has a very big agenda. The issue of finance is one of the important ones," said Ivan Timofeyev, general director of the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC), in an interview with TASS. According to the expert, financial cooperation will be a priority agenda item, especially given the conditions of unprecedented sanctions imposed on Russia as well as sanctions against China, two of the four founding members of BRICS.

"No one can guarantee that [Western] sanctions will not be imposed against other countries. Therefore, issues concerning financial relations will, of course, occupy an important place on the agenda of Russia’s chairmanship," he explained.

It is expected that Russia will continue the discussions on reaching a settlement in the Middle East that began at the extraordinary summit in November, as well as on other world issues that are traditionally discussed among the BRICS countries. Other potential topics include individual countries’ experience using artificial intelligence. Attention will also be paid to finalizing the new category of BRICS partner states. Applications from more than 20 countries that have expressed a desire to join BRICS will be considered, with priority given to the candidacies of Belarus and Kazakhstan.

Moscow has already announced about 200 separate BRICS-related events, about 10 of which will be held at the ministerial level. Among the Russian cities that will host important BRICS events are Nizhny Novgorod and Kazan. In the summer, Nizhny Novgorod will host a meeting of the BRICS foreign ministers, while Kazan will host the annual BRICS summit in October.

BRICS was formed in 2006 and initially included Brazil, Russia, India and China. South Africa joined the intergovernmental organization in 2011.