By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Ethiopia on Thursday announced that it has submitted application to join the membership of the BRICS bloc as one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies, the foreign ministry said on Thursday.
This was followed with expression of optimism that it would receive a favourable response from the bloc of emerging markets.
“We expect BRICS will give us a positive response to the request we have made,” Reuters quoted a foreign ministry spokesman Meles Alem as saying.
Ethiopia will continue to work with international institutions that can protect its interests, Alem said.
The Horn of Africa nation has the second-largest population in Africa, but its economy ranks only 59th in the world according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and is less than half the size of the smallest BRICS member, South Africa.
The term BRIC was coined by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O’Neill in 2001 to describe the rise of Brazil, Russia, India and China.
After the BRIC powers had their first summit in 2009 in Russia, South Africa joined in 2010 and became the first African nation to do so.
This comes ahead of a summit in August to be hosted in South Africa’s capital, Johannesburg.
South Africa on Thursday confirmed its readiness to host the summit as planned, amidst speculation it could be moved to a location elsewhere.
Rumours have emerged that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin may be arrested if he shows up in South Africa following allegation of war crimes in Ukraine by the International Court of Justice.
Last year Argentina, the world’s 23rd-largest economy, said it had received China’s formal support to join the group, which has been perceived as a powerful emerging-market alternative to the West.
BRICS countries account for more than 40% of the world’s population and about 26% of the global economy.
