On 1 January 2024, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates joined BRICS as new full members. This group has now become an organization of 10 countries.

During the 15th BRICS summit held in Johannesburg, the decision was made to include six countries, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Argentina, as new members of the group.

Argentina decided not to join BRICS:

Just 3 days before joining BRICS, Argentina's new President, Javier Mili, decided to withdraw his country's plan to join BRICS.

Russia's tenure as president begins:

Russia's tenure as Chairman of BRICS begins from January 1, 2024.
Russia will act as the Chairman of BRICS for a full year.

Highlights of the 15th BRICS Summit:

The 15th BRICS summit was held in Johannesburg, South Africa in August 2023.
The theme of the 15th BRICS Summit - is "BRICS and Africa: Partnership for Mutually Accelerated Growth, Sustainable Development and Inclusive Multilateralism."
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa presided over the conference.

About the BRICS group:

Full form of BRICS – Brazil(B), Russia(R), India(I), China(C) and South Africa(S)
Economist Jim O'Neill coined BRIC (without South Africa) in 2001.
The grouping was formalized during the first BRIC Foreign Ministers' Meeting 2006.
The first BRIC summit was held in Yekaterinburg, Russia in 2009.
South Africa was included in the BRICS group in 2010. After this, this group adopted the acronym BRICS.
In 2014, during the Sixth BRICS Summit in Fortaleza, Brazil, BRICS leaders signed an agreement to establish the New Development Bank (NDB).

Share of BRICS:

BRICS brings together the world's five largest developing countries, representing 41% of the global population, 24% of global GDP and 16% of global trade.

Chair:

The Chairmanship of the Forum is rotated annually among the members by B-R-I-C-S.
India hosted the chairmanship of the 2021 BRICS summit.