G20 Countries Interested In Joining BRICS New Development Bank

Brazil, which is hosting the upcoming G20 annual meetings in Rio de Janeiro from 18–19 November, has made the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) a G20 partner for 2024. Several G20 countries could subsequently join the bank, according to Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador Marat Berdyev.

The G20 includes Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Russia, Türkiye, UK and USA) and two regional bodies: the African Union and the European Union. Russia will be represented in Rio by Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov. Of the G20 attendees, Brazil, China, India, Russia, and South Africa are all founding members of the NDB, while Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and Turkiye have all expressed interest.

In discussing the potential for G20 nations to join the NDB, Berdyev said “This year, the New Development Bank acted as a partner of the G20 and was invited by the Brazilian presidency for the first time to participate in numerous forum events, including the leaders’ summit, which indicates the growth of its international authority and position.” He noted, however, that it is still difficult to say whether the bank’s participation in the G20 events will result in specific projects.

“There are countries in the G20 that could interact with this bank, could consider joining its activities and even becoming shareholders. In my opinion, such prospects are quite real,” he added.

Answering the question about whether Brazil’s initiative had met resistance from Western countries, Berdyev emphasized that they were unlikely to be very pleased with such a decision, “but no one openly spoke out against” the initiative.

The G20 Rio summit will be interesting to observe as about 50% of the attendees are pro-Russian and 50% are anti-Russian. There has been some commentary that the BRICS group is a more than adequate replacement for emerging countries as the G20 tends to follow Western policies, while the BRICS has a differing geopolitical makeup.