Algeria closes the door to the BRICS

Algeria has decided not to join the BRICS group, as a result of a decision by the Algerian authorities in view of the political positions and membership criteria of the political and economic group of emerging countries. 

The BRICS group is a political and economic group founded in 2006 and named after the initials of its member states (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), although, as of 1 January 2024, Egypt, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia will join the group, as announced at its 15th Summit, held in August 2023 in Johannesburg, South Africa. The entity is made up of emerging nations that constitute an alternative pole to the G7, made up of the world's most developed economies, with the challenge of being an alternative space to the great powers and being an opposition to the established economic order through entities such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. 

Although it is an interesting showcase, Algeria has closed itself to the option of joining the BRICS group despite giving the green light to join the New Development Bank. The North African country has been pushing for a long time to join the BRICS group and, in fact, announced its entry into the New Development Bank, chaired by former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, as announced earlier this September by the Algerian Ministry of Finance, but political disagreements seem to have stopped the union drift. 

The New Development Bank is the financial instrument of the BRICS. The entity was founded in 2015 by the group and aims to mobilise resources to finance sustainable development projects in emerging markets and developing countries. Algeria announced its accession to the bank, but now its refusal to join the BRICS group has come. 

Algeria failed to join in the latest BRICS enlargement announced after the summit in South Africa in the summer of 2023, despite President Abdelmadjid Tebboune's claim at the time that he had the support of China, Russia, South Africa and Brazil.

And now the Algerian authorities have confirmed that they will not join the BRICS group after acceptance into the bloc's proprietary bank, criticising the membership criteria, with implicit accusations that the group is subject to political calculations, as reported by media outlets such as Al-Arab and El Moudjahid. 

Algeria's president, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, may have dismissed the idea of repeating the effort to join the BRICS group after the disappointment suffered with the group's members in the past, when Algeria's entry into the entity was not accepted. 

The El Moudjahid media quoted government sources as saying that Algeria's refusal to join the group: ‘Algeria has completely closed the BRICS file and has become a thing of the past for the country, even if it is a member of the bank owned by the bloc’. 

It was implied that the criteria adopted for accepting new members are unclear and that there was not the same yardstick for some countries as others, as other nations would have joined without reaching the required economic and strategic levels. 

‘Algeria has certainly turned the page, even if it is a member of the BRICS bank, and, for the Algerian authorities, the BRICS membership file is completely closed, for reasons that are both simple and logical,’ according to sources consulted by El Moudjahid and echoed by Al-Arab. 

This clarification follows information circulating on blogs and social networks from business circles that BRICS member states had once again asked Algeria to join the group.

It would appear that Algeria has responded to this information flow with a report by a media outlet close to the Algerian state, in order to announce the official position of the Maghreb country, with the aim of sending the message that it has closed the file on its entry into the BRICS. 

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune announced in July 2023, during a visit to China, that Algeria had officially applied to join the BRICS, but its application was rejected at the organisation's summit in South Africa in August 2023. However, six countries were accepted during the same summit: Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, Argentina and Iran, although the current Argentinian government of Javier Milei communicated its official renunciation to join the group despite having been accepted previously. 

Observers saw the recognition of NDB membership as a first step towards Algeria's accession to the BRICS, but this will not happen after Algeria's latest decision to close its doors to the group. 

According to information provided by El Moudjahid: ‘No reasonable argument was presented to justify the exclusion of Algeria, whose file was withdrawn at the last minute, during the August 2023 summit, which is considered a contradictory position.’ 

‘It is supposed to challenge the established global order represented by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and the BRICS group has adopted a ridiculous logic of choice and a restrictive approach’, according to Algeria following information provided by El Moudjahid. 

All of this would weaken the credibility of the BRICS group, and Algeria is refusing to join out of respect for its own national political principles. Algeria understands that it is in a better position than other countries accepted by the group.