MOSCOW, January 17. /TASS/. Work toward the integration of Saudi Arabia, which was slated to join BRICS as of January 1, is ongoing and Moscow attaches high importance to the process, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"The work on the integration of Saudi Arabia with the BRICS countries continues; we consider it very important. It was also discussed during [Russian] President Vladimir Putin's recent visit to Riyadh," the Kremlin spokesman said, adding that he knew nothing about the statement by Saudi Commerce Minister Majid bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi, who said that the country had not yet officially joined BRICS.

Saudi Arabia, along with Argentina, Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates, was invited to join BRICS after the intergovernmental group’s summit in Johannesburg in August 2023. In December, Argentina's new government said it had declined the invitation for the time being because it considered integration with BRICS impractical. The other five countries have begun working as full-fledged BRICS member states since January 1.

This marks the BRICS group’s second expansion since its inception in 2006. In 2011, South Africa joined the original group of Brazil, Russia, India and China. Russia has assumed the rotating BRICS chairmanship for 2024.