President Alberto Fernández confirmed his virtual presence at the summit of heads of state of the BRICS mechanism, which includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The President’s participation seeks to show the firm intention to advance in the diplomatic negotiations to join this group of countries in order to give greater weight to the Argentine economy in the current world context.
Qualified government sources told El Cronista that Fernández confirmed the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping to join the BRICS summit virtually on June 24, while Santiago Cafiero will give his message by Zoom to the meeting of ministers this Thursday of Foreign Relations of that summit organized by China.
From the Government they also confirmed that there is a clear message from Xi Jinping to endorse Argentina’s incorporation into the BRICS, although this depends on a process that is not so simple and requires the endorsement of all members.
So far there are positive signs from China, Brazil, India and South Africa to add Argentina. The will to join the group of five countries received a gesture of support in the first days of April. With a relevance impossible to ignore in foreign trade -it is the 2nd trading partner, with an annual exchange of 19,837 million in 2021 according to official data-, China is also a political interlocutor that in the bilateral relationship does not stop sending signals.
In the case of Russia, there is no definition and the recent message from the Kremlin to the Alberto Fernández administration does not seem to bode well.
It so happens that the Russian state news agency Sputnik published an opinion article this Saturday in which they describe as “hypocritical” and “treason” the condemnation made by President Alberto Fernández of the invasion of Kremlin troops in Ukraine. This could make relations between Buenos Aires and Moscow difficult. Therefore, they see obstacles from Vladimir Putin for Argentina to join the BRICS.
The Foreign Ministry assured El Cronista that China, as the host country of the BRICS summit, only invited Argentina on the Latin American side as an external member of this bloc. At the same time, Xi Jinping gave favorable signs to add the BRICS Development Bank to Argentina.
In addition, from Brazil there is also good agreement with Argentina to incorporate the Alberto Fernández administration into the BRICS. Jair Bolsonaro’s Economy Minister, Paulo Guedes, told the State agency that he will promote Argentina as a candidate to join the New Development Bank (NDB), the financial institution created by the BRICS in 2014, based in Shanghai.