Egypt has officially applied to join BRICS, as announced on June 14 by Russian Ambassador to Cairo Georgy Borisenko. Earlier, in 2022, Argentina, Iran and Algeria also applied to join the association.

According to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov, the number of countries who wish to join the BRICS organization has reached two dozen. Bangladesh, Venezuela, Gabon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Indonesia, Iran, the Union of the Comoros, Cuba, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have publicly announced their readiness to join.

BRICS is an informal interstate organization that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The acronym BRICS is derived from the first letter of the names of the countries in English. The organization aims to develop comprehensive cooperation between member countries in the economy, finance, education, science, culture and other areas. The BRICS countries have significant potential for economic growth. They cover about 30% of the Earth’s total land area, and have more than 40% of the world's population. These states produce almost half of the world's wheat and rice crops, and possess about 15% of the world's gold reserves. For more information about figures and the possible expansion of the association, see the TASS infographic.