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Saudi Arabia’s Economy and Planning Minister, Faisal bin Fadhil Al-Ibrahim, has said that Riyadh has not made the final decision to join BRICS and is still assessing its possible membership in the group, saying “The kingdom is always focusing on fostering more global dialogue.” He made the comments at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Al-Ibrahim clarified that “We’ve been invited to the BRICS, similar to how we’ve been invited to many other multilateral platforms in the past historically. We assess many different aspects of it before a decision is made and right now, we are in the middle of that process.”
Saudi Arabian officials have repeatedly stated that the kingdom’s authorities have not made a final decision on BRICS membership, with Saudi Arabian Commerce Minister Majed bin Abdullah al-Qasabi saying at last year’s World Economic Forum that the kingdom had not yet officially joined the group.
The decision to invite Saudi Arabia to join BRICS was made at the 2023 BRICS summit in Johannesburg. At the time, Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said that the kingdom would study the invitation and make an “appropriate decision.” According to him, Riyadh expected BRICS to provide details on the terms of its membership.
During the BRICS Summit held in Kazan last October, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said that Saudi Arabia would take part in the Outreach/BRICS Plus meetings as an invited state. He also emphasized that the kingdom is interested in close cooperation with the association. The Saudi delegation to the summit in Kazan was headed by the Foreign Minister.
Riyadh may be feeling its way as concerns on-going developments in the Middle East prior to making a decision. The situation in Gaza has not helped and is still reshaping regional politics, while the Saudi government is also not keen on Russian plans to establish a naval base in the Red Sea. Saudi Arabian relations with Iran, a full BRICS member, remain awkward, although relations with Egypt, and the UAE, both also full BRICS members, are warm.
Another balancing act is Riyadh’s relations with Washington, where the new President Trump has previously warned of engaging with the BRICS bloc. These complexities suggest that Saudi Arabia’s engagement with BRICS will remain tentative for the immediate future.
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