India insists on 'full consensus' on BRICS expansion but says it has an open mind

Ahead of the BRICS summit in Johannesburg, India on Monday said it has a 'positive intent' and an 'open mind' for the expansion of the five-nation grouping.

India, on Monday, stressed the need to have a “full consensus” on the guiding principles for expansion of the BRICS, even as it stated that it had “a positive intent and an open mind” on admitting new members to the five-nation bloc.

“We have a positive intent and an open mind when it comes to BRICS expansion,” Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra told journalists in New Delhi.

He, however, underlined that the BRICS worked on the “principle of consensus”, indicating that the move to initiate the process to expand the bloc would succeed if all the members agreed on the criteria for opening the door for new entrants.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will leave for Johannesburg early on Tuesday to attend the 15^th BRICS summit, which will be hosted by President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa.

The expansion of the bloc, which now comprises Brazil, Russia, India, and South Africa, is one of the issues on the agenda of the summit.

At least 23 nations have submitted applications seeking membership in the bloc, while 17 others have expressed interest to join it. The countries aspiring to get a berth on the BRICS include Argentina, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Cuba, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Nigeria, and Saudi Arabia.

Kwatra said that the prime minister would attend the BRICS leaders' retreat soon after arriving at Johannesburg in the late afternoon on Tuesday.

The main component of the BRICS summit will be held on Wednesday, with two sessions – one will focus on cooperation within the bloc, reform of the multilateral institutions and counter-terrorism, while the other has on agenda global economic recovery, sustainable development goals and priorities of the ‘Global South’.

With the geopolitical tension triggered by the Russia-Ukraine conflict escalating tension between the former Soviet Union and the western nations, Moscow over the past few months supported Beijing’s push for admitting new members and expanding the BRICS, apparently to turn it into a counterweight to the G7 and a challenger to the US and EU, particularly on global economic issues.

New Delhi has been resisting the bid, stressing that the bloc should first frame rules to expand the bloc.

As the BRICS works on the principle of consensus, all member states would “have to have full consensus” on how they would want the bloc to be expanded, what should be the guiding principles of expanding it and what would be the criteria for such an expansion, Kwatra told journalists in New Delhi, adding: “Those are the subject matters of ongoing current discussions between the Sherpas of the BRICS in South Africa. And I would not want to prejudge the outcome of these discussions.”

India is reluctant to move fast on the expansion of the BRICS. It believes that such a move could further complicate its strategic balancing between its decades-old partnership with Russia and its expanding ties with the US and the rest of the West.