Palestine and Azerbaijan want to join BRICS

Brussels – The BRICS family of so-called emerging economies that collectively portray themselves as a counterweight to Western hegemony globally may soon expand again after more than doubling its membership at the beginning of the year. New additions, likely to be announced in the fall, could include Palestine and Azerbaijan.

According to reports fromTurkey’s news agency Anadolu, the Palestinian ambassador to Moscow, Abdel Hafiz Nofal, said Ramallah would submit its application to join the BRICS group after the upcoming summit, scheduled for October in Kazan, some 870 kilometers east of the Russian capital.

BRICS is a group established in 2009 with four countries — Brazil, Russia, India, and China — that were considered emerging in the global economy (although the concept of “emerging economy” to date is controversial). In 2011, South Africa joined (hence the acronym BRICS, from the union of the countries’ initials -Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), and in January 2024, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, and Iran joined too – representing over 37 percent of world GDP (as a reference point, the EU, is worth about 14.5 percent). Palestine applied to join the organization in August 2023, along with 21 other countries (including the four that have since joined). As of Jan. 1 this year, the Russian Federation assumed the group’s rotating presidency (which lasts one year).

“Russian President Vladimir Putin has promised that there will be a session devoted entirely to Palestine,” Ambassador Nofal noted, stressing that the invitation addressed to the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas Monday (Aug. 26) “means that despite all the crimes, killings, and destruction in the Gaza Strip, our message is that Palestine wants to live and develop.” Moscow has repeatedly shown itself close, at least in words, to the Palestinian cause since the start of the Israeli offensive in the Strip and is thus one of the most natural international “protectors” for Ramallah.

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) formally declared the State of Palestine in 1988 but was admitted to the UN General Assembly as an observer only in 2012. To date, 145 out of 193 UN member states officially recognize it, of which only twelve EU countries (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Hungary, Ireland, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden). Almost all Western nations are missing from the roll call.

In addition to Palestine, on Aug. 20, Azerbaijan also expressed its intention to join the bloc of emerging economies during a visit by the Russian president to the country. Ties between Baku and Moscow have intensified in recent years. For example,  just two days before the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the countries signed a “declaration on allied interaction” for increased bilateral cooperation.

The rapprochement between the Russian Federation and the South Caucasus Republic has also mirrored Armenia’s gradual estrangement from Moscow, especially following the Kremlin’s failure to respond to the escalating crisis between Yerevan and Baku in the Armenian exclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, recaptured from the Azeris in September last year. Armenia is still formally part of a collective security treaty entered into by several former Soviet republics (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan). However, in 2024, it gradually distanced itself from Moscow and announced its intention to leave the military alliance.

Despite growing ties with Putin’s Russia, Azerbaijan has recently become a significant energy partner of the European Union, supplying it with natural gas and oil to make up for the lack of hydrocarbons following the war in Ukraine. Despite the authoritative rule of President Ilham Aliyev and the fact that it has become rich thanks to the sale of fossil fuels, Baku will host the next UN climate conference, Cop 29, in November.