The “BRICS group” became famous in the media recently after the Ukrainian war, and several countries are looking to join a bloc that achieves a kind of economic polarity, out of their desire to establish a multipolar system instead of the unipolar one controlled by the United States.

The BRICS group was established in 2006 and was called “BRIC“, i.e. the initials of its constituent countries, i.e. Brazil, Russia, India and China. It held its first summit in 2009, then South Africa joined it to become BRICS.

Purnima Anand, president of the BRICS International Forum, had indicated a possible accession of new countries to the group, and media quoted her as saying, “Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia may join soon, just as Moscow had previously announced Iran and Argentina‘s readiness to join.”

A few weeks ago, Egypt officially became a new member of the New Development Bank established by the BRICS countries, after completing the necessary procedures. Which is seen by some as an important step towards joining the organization.

Recently, Russia is working to create a new common currency between Russia, India and other BRICS countries as a way to respond to the dollar’s dominance and misuse by the United States.

Meanwhile, the strength of the Russian ruble in the wake of harsh sanctions imposed by the United States and other European countries shows that there is a high level of opposition to the hegemony of the United States of America, and the BRICS countries see that this is the right time to take advantage of the growing level of dissatisfaction with the American policies.

Even former Goldman Sachs chief economist Jim O’Neill, who coined the acronym BRIC, has called for the BRICS bloc to expand and challenge the US dollar’s hegemony as a way to combat the destabilizing effects that the dollar’s hegemony is having on their monetary policies.

“The US dollar plays a very dominant role in global finance,” he wrote in a research paper published in the Global Policy Journal.

“Whenever the Fed embarks on periods of monetary tightening, or vice versa, easing, the consequences for the value of the dollar and the spillover effects are dramatic,” he added.

O’Neill sees the dominance of the dollar as a burden on countries with dollar-denominated debt because their monetary policies are destabilizing when exchange rates fluctuate.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov revealed earlier that the “BRICS” group will discuss the initiative to create a unified currency among the member states, during the summit to be held in South Africa, next August.

According to the South African ambassador to BRICS, the group intends to adopt its decision this year regarding the admission of new members, as well as specifying the criteria that countries wishing to join the alliance will have to meet, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and other countries that have submitted an official request to join the alliance.

Saudi Arabia.. the first candidate

The name of Saudi Arabia was circulated to join the group, especially after the disagreements between Riyadh and Washington recently flared up due to the disagreement on oil prices and production. Russian President Vladimir Putin had said earlier that his country supports Saudi Arabia’s accession to the BRICS group, praising Saudi Arabia’s plans to “diversify its economy” and its “leading position in the oil markets.”

However, the news of Saudi Arabia’s desire to join BRICS began with the statements of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who stated, after his visit to Saudi Arabia at the end of last year, that the latter had expressed its willingness to join the organization. The news was first reported by South African media during a press conference by President Ramaphosa, who also stated that Saudi Arabia is not the only one who wants to join.

Meanwhile, the Russian Foreign Ministry said at the end of last month that 16 countries want to join the “BRICS” alliance.

Egypt.. the second Arab candidate

Egypt has officially become a new member of the New Development Bank established by the BRICS countries, after the friend of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi approved Resolution No. 628 of 2023 regarding the approval of the agreement establishing the New Development Bank of the BRICS bloc and Egypt’s accession document to the bank.