(Jan 20): Saudi Arabia’s membership in the BRICS bloc of emerging economies is still being assessed more than a year after the kingdom was invited to join the alliance, according to the country’s minister of economy and planning.

“The kingdom is always focusing on fostering more global dialogue,” Faisal Al-Ibrahim said in an interview with Bloomberg Television at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

“We have been invited to the BRICS, similar to how we have been invited to many other multilateral platforms in the past historically,” he said. “We assess many different aspects of it before a decision is made, and right now, we are in the middle of that.”

Last year, Al-Ibrahim also said that the kingdom was in the process of evaluating the membership.  

Saudi Arabia’s hesitation to join BRICS group — made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa initially — is in contrast to most other countries that were invited to join the bloc in 2023. Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates all agreed to inclusion as the alliance looks to expand its global influence.

The joining of top oil exporter Saudi Arabia in BRICS would bring together several energy producers with the developing world’s biggest consumers, reportedly giving the group a larger economic clout.

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