The Federal Republic of Nigeria is the newest BRICS partner country. The announcement was made this Friday (17) by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MRE). With accession, the diplomatic group now has nine partner countries: Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Malaysia, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan and the recent Nigeria.
The country on the west coast of Africa has deep historical and cultural links with Brazil. Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and the sixth in the world.
Nigeria is among the 30 countries with the highest gross domestic product and has an abundant supply of natural resources and minerals such as oil and natural gas. Since the early 1970s, Nigerians have been part of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), a cartel that defines the value of the commodity on the international market.
The name Brics derives from the acronym Bric, created by British economist Jim O’Neill in 2001 to refer to the four most important emerging economies at the time: Brazil, Russia, India and China. Ten years ago, South Africa (South Africa, in English) joined the group and incorporated the “S” into the original acronym.
In addition to these five titular countries, since August 2023 it has included other nations with the same status: Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia and Iran.
On January 6 of this year, Brazil announced Indonesia’s accession to Brics as a full member. Currently, Brazil occupies the temporary presidency of the bloc. A meeting of Brics leaders should take place in Rio de Janeiro in July.
According to a note from Itamaraty, “Nigeria has convergent interests with the other members of the group, actively working to strengthen cooperation in the Global South and reform global governance, priority themes for the current Brazilian presidency.”
