Bolivia Also Wants to be a Part of BRICS

President of Bolivia, Luis Arce Catacora, has received an official invitation to attend the annual BRICS Group Summit scheduled in Johannesburg, South Africa, for August 22-24. On June 12, the Bolivian president announced his country’s “strong desire” to join BRICS, a group that currently comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

The latter, being the successive BRICS president country, stated that, along with Algeria and Bolivia, 11 more countries have “officially” asked to join the group of five. Another six countries have expressed this desire in an “unofficial” form, while about 40 countries have expressed their desire to join BRICS in “general terms” and are currently exploring specific possibilities. BRICS is the fastest growing international group, and the 5 founding countries together produce a quarter of the world’s GDP and account for 40% of the planet’s population.

Bolivia’s foreign minister, Rogelio Mayta, said, “We have already discussed Bolivia’s decision to join BRICS with all the top five and have received a welcoming approval from Russia and China.”