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BRICS free platform — Chinese MFA on Argentina’s plans not to join group

"China welcomes all countries that will express the wish to join BRICS," China's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Wang Wenbin stressed

BEIJING, December 1. /TASS/. BRICS is a free platform, while China welcomes any country willing to join it, China's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Friday when commenting on the statement made by Diana Mondino, Argentinian President-elect Javier Milei’s choice for Foreign Minister, that the country "is not in any position to join the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB)."

"BRICS is an important platform helping countries with developing market and developing economy to strengthen unity, cooperation and protect common interests," China's official said.

"BRICS is an open platform, China welcomes all countries that will express the wish to join BRICS," he added.

On the previous say Diana Mondino said that Argentina could not join the BRICS New Development Bank as it was unable to contribute capital.

The 15th BRICS summit took place in Johannesburg under South Africa’s chairmanship on August 22-24. The participants of the summit reached an agreement on Argentina, Egypt, Iran, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia becoming full members of the integration starting January 1, 2024. The government of the South American country officially applied for the NDB membership in the middle of October.

On November 19, the second round of presidential elections took place in Argentina. Javier Milei, who heads the Libertarian Party, part of the right-wing ‘the Freedom Advances’ alliance, defeated Economy Minister Sergio Massa. The politician advocates minimal state interference, wants to get rid of the Central Bank and proposes replacing the national currency with the dollar. He repeatedly stated that he has no intention of developing relations with Brazil, China and Russia due to his disagreement with the policies of these states, but will not prevent businesses from dealing with them. Mondino said in late October that at that stage the Freedom Advances alliance saw no point in Argentina taking part in BRICS, though she did not rule out a change of position. On November 25, the TN TV channel quoted coalition sources as saying that Milei's team was analyzing the possibility of joining BRICS with inactive participation in the group's work.

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