Leaders of the BRICS nations on Sunday welcomed Indonesia as a full member of the group, alongside the inclusion of 10 countries — Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Malaysia, Thailand, Cuba, Vietnam, Uganda, and Uzbekistan — as partner countries.
In a joint declaration issued at the 17th BRICS Summit in Rio de Janeiro, the leaders said:
“We welcome the Republic of Indonesia as a BRICS member, as well as the Republic of Belarus, the Plurinational State of Bolivia, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Republic of Cuba, the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Malaysia, the Kingdom of Thailand, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the Republic of Uganda, and the Republic of Uzbekistan as BRICS partner countries.”
The declaration also highlighted key initiatives adopted during the summit, including the BRICS Leaders’ Framework Declaration on Climate Finance, the BRICS Leaders’ Statement on Global Governance of Artificial Intelligence, and the launch of the BRICS Partnership for the Elimination of Socially Determined Diseases.
During the BRICS session on Peace and Security and Reform of Global Governance, Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasised that the expansion signals BRICS’ ability to evolve with changing times. He called for urgent reforms in global institutions such as the United Nations Security Council, the World Trade Organization, and Multilateral Development Banks.
“The expansion of BRICS and the inclusion of new partners reflect its ability to evolve with the times. Now, we must demonstrate the same determination to reform institutions like the UN Security Council, the WTO, and Multilateral Development Banks. In the age of AI, where technology evolves every week, it’s unacceptable for global institutions to go eighty years without reform. You can’t run 21st-century software on 20th-century typewriters”, the PM said at the summit.
BRICS was originally established as BRIC after the leaders of Russia, India, China, and Brazil met during the G8 Outreach Summit in 2006. The grouping formalised its cooperation with the first BRIC Summit in Russia in 2009. South Africa joined in 2010, expanding the group to BRICS.
Further expansion occurred in 2024, with Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the UAE becoming full members from January 1. Indonesia became a full member in January 2025, while Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, and Uzbekistan were inducted as partner countries.