At the end of last month, Ethiopia requested to join the BRICS group, the economic bloc consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Ethiopia is one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies.
The BRICS governments held their first summit in 2009 in Russia. South Africa joined the following year. They will be hosting the next summit in August of this year.
Read more: Will Egypt join the BRICS economic alliance?
The economy of Ethiopia is ranked 59th globally, according to the International Monetary Fund, and home to the second largest population on the continent. In comparison to the size of the BRICS nations, it is less than half the size of the smallest member, South Africa.
BRICS countries consist of 40% of the world’s population and 26% of the globe’s economy. Other nations have previously applied to be a member. The world’s 23rd-largest economy, Argentina, received China’s support to join the group last year.
“We expect BRICS will give us a positive response to the request we have made,” Meles Alem, Ethiopia’s Foreign Ministry spokesman reported to the state-run news agency ENA.
If their membership is approved, Ethiopia will have new opportunities for trade and economic development.
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