Saudi Arabia is interested in joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the BRICS group, an economic association comprised of the world’s five largest rising economies, according to Sergey Kozlov, Russia’s ambassador to the country.
Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, collectively known as the BRICS countries, account for more than 40 percent of global population and around a quarter of global GDP. The SCO, a regional security alliance dominated by China and Russia, also counts strong states like India among its members.
In an interview with RIA Novosti news agency on 12 February, Kozlov asserted that Saudi Arabia was eager to join organizations like the SCO and BRICS as part of the kingdom’s effort to diversify its foreign policy.
While the idea of joining BRICS is being analyzed, the Russian chief diplomat claimed that the possibility of the Gulf country joining the SCO is also being actively pursued.
“In general, the willingness of [our] Saudi partners to become an integrated part of these multilateral organizations, primarily the SCO, seems to have a good prospect,” Kozlov said.
Meanwhile, Sergey Lavrov, the Foreign Minister of Russia, claimed earlier this year that “more than a dozen” countries had indicated interest in joining the BRICS alliance.
Last December, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, said Algeria will boost investments, improve human development, and shift towards a more advanced export structure relying less on hydrocarbons to qualify for membership into the BRICS group of emerging economies.
“When Algeria’s GDP exceeds $200 billion, then it can be said that Algeria is close to joining BRICS,” Tebboune told reporters.
Last year, Iran was officially included in the SCO as a permanent member. The nation later applied to join BRICS.
China remains Iran’s largest trading partner and the leading purchaser of its oil. Over the last ten months, oil exports from Tehran to Beijing reached $12.6 billion.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi will visit China this week at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, Beijing announced on 12 February.
In January, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov said that the BRICS countries will discuss creating a common currency at the group’s forthcoming summit this August.
Referring to the current US dollar-dominated international financial system, which exposes participant countries to the threat of economic sanctions imposed by Washington, Lavrov claimed that “Serious, self-respecting countries are well aware of what is at stake, see the incompetence of the ‘masters’ of the current international monetary and financial system, and want to create their own mechanisms to ensure sustainable development, which will be protected from outside dictates.”