MOSCOW, August 24. /TASS/. The leaders of BRICS member states, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, adopted a declaration at the organization’s 15th summit. It was presented on Thursday following a meeting of the heads of the nations in South Africa.
Six new countries joined the association. Moreover, financial organizations of the member states will ready proposals on using national currencies and common payment instruments for the next meeting in 2024.
TASS has gathered the key facts from the final speeches made by the heads of BRICS countries.
BRICS expansion
The BRICS leaders have reached an agreement on the main principles, standards and criteria for the expansion of the association. They arrived at a consensus on the first stage of this expansion, which will be followed by others as well.
Starting in 2024, six new countries, Argentina, Egypt, Iran, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia, will join BRICS.
Financial system
BRICS members noted the need to use alternative payment systems. In order to enhance the stability of the global financial system, finance ministries and central banks from the BRICS nations have been tasked with considering the issue of making settlements using national currencies and "a number of payment instruments."
The results will be reported back to the BRICS leaders by the next summit.
Summit’s results
The participants of the meeting recognized the summit as successful as it became the first face-to-face meeting after a few years of remote formats due to the coronavirus pandemic. BRICS leaders heard the report by president of the BRICS New Development Bank Dilma Rousseff on the prospects of economic cooperation within the integration.
Speaking about the results of the meeting in Johannesburg, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa stressed that during the talks BRICS leaders pointed out the importance of equal development in the world, as well as the need to settle conflicts in the world peacefully.