Cuban President Diaz-Canel Applauds the BRICS Expansion

On Thursday, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel celebrated the expansion of the BRICS group, which will admit six new countries, including Argentina. 

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"Today, no one can question the authority of the BRICS," Diaz-Canel said during his speech at a dialogue between the BRICS and dozens of Global South countries on the final day of the 15th Summit of Heads of State and Government in Johannesburg, South Africa.

"That's why we don't hesitate to welcome its eventual expansion, which would contribute to reinforcing its relevance and representativeness," emphasized the Cuban leader, who holds the presidency of the Group of 77 and China. 

Diaz-Canel noted that it has been a historical demand of the Group of 77, as well as the BRICS, to embark on a genuine transformation of the deeply unjust, outdated, and dysfunctional international financial architecture.

"We firmly believe that the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) can and should become an alternative to the current financial institutions, which have applied draconian recipes for nearly a century to profit from the reserves of the South and reproduce their schemes of subjugation and domination," he pointed out.

Diaz-Canel gave special recognition to the appointment of Dilma Rousseff, former President of Brazil, to lead the NDB. He also valued the praiseworthy initiative of the BRICS in creating a broad-based foreign currency reserve mechanism that guarantees certainty and stability for the South.

"Undoubtedly, extending this mechanism to other countries could help alleviate the imbalances of the current international monetary system," he said.

In his view, "establishing lines of mutual credit in local currencies by the banks of the BRICS countries, as well as creating a single currency for their operations, are also initiatives that could be applied in relations with other developing countries."

"This would serve to reduce the abusive monopoly of the U.S. dollar, which reinforces and guarantees a hegemony that is harmful to the rest of the world."

Diaz-Canel criticized the West and emphasized that the Group of 77, China, and the BRICS have "the responsibility and the possibility to act for a change in this unjust world order."

"It's not an option, it's the only alternative," concluded the Cuban President, who met with President Xi Jinping on Wednesday during the BRICS summit to strengthen bilateral relations.

Diaz-Canel delivered his speech after South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the BRICS had agreed to admit six countries.

"We have decided to invite Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates to become full members of BRICS starting from January 1, 2024," Ramaphosa said.

Around 40 countries had expressed their desire to join this club, according to the South African government, which had received formal expressions of interest from 23 countries, including Argentina, Bolivia, Cuba, Honduras, and Venezuela.

Brazil, Russia, India, and China established the BRICS group in 2006, with South Africa joining in 2010, adding the letter 'S' to the acronym.

Currently this economic bloc represents over 42 percent of the world's population, 23 percent of the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and 18 percent of the international trade.