African Countries in BRICS: Results Depend Not on « Weight, » but on the Balance of Interests
The success of an African country in BRICS is determined not by oil, gas, or the size of its economy, but by the balance of interests within the group and the ability to integrate national initiatives into the collective agenda. This was the conclusion reached by participants at the roundtable « Institutionalizing South-South Cooperation: The BRICS Experience and Prospects for Africa, » held on October 13 at the GlobUs International Expert Club.
Experts from the Center for African Strategy in BRICS analyzed the cases of Algeria, Uganda, and Ethiopia.
The meeting was moderated by Sevgi Akhmedova, Head of the African Club at the Russian State University for the Humanities and media specialist at the GlobUs Expert Club. Opening the roundtable, Akhmedova emphasized that each country had its own path: Algeria remained outside the « political BRICS » fold, Uganda joined as a partner, and Ethiopia received full membership and is already achieving concrete results.
Ekaterina Abramova, a junior research fellow at the Center for African Strategy in BRICS, used the example of Algeria to demonstrate that formal membership criteria do not guarantee accession. According to Abramova, Algeria’s application faced objections from India, which feared a shift in the balance of power in China’s favor. Today, Algeria is developing its participation in the New Development Bank (NDB) as a separate, independent track, while membership remains beyond the BRICS strategic vision.
Alexander Barinov, Junior Research Fellow at the Center for African Strategy in BRICS, recently returned from a trip to Uganda. He explained why a traditional Western partner became a BRICS partner: diversification of external relations, economic benefits, and a desire to consolidate its role as a regional security hub in the African Great Lakes region. According to Barinov, Ugandans are proud of their status as a BRICS partner and aspire to full membership.
Maxim Grishenkin, Junior Research Fellow at the Center for African Strategy in BRICS, analyzed Ethiopia’s strategy for 2026 under the Indian chairmanship and the results of the New Delhi Declaration. Addis Ababa did not create a separate agenda, but rather integrated national demands into the common language of BRICS. Ethiopia has achieved its greatest success in space: it advocated for new members to join the BRICS satellite constellation for Earth remote sensing.
« Ethiopia quickly mastered the logic of an expanded BRICS. It didn’t limit itself to rhetoric about multipolarity, but proposed targeted, concrete initiatives, some of which were implemented, » Grishenkin said.
During the discussion, participants also discussed the issue of a consolidated African voice in BRICS. Many pan-continental themes, such as a free trade area and Agenda 2063, are relevant to both South Africa and Ethiopia, meaning a coordination mechanism for formulating a unified African agenda is possible.
In conclusion, Akhmedova emphasized that Africa’s path to South-South institutions is not uniform, and the outcome is determined not by a country’s weight, but by the balance of interests and the ability to translate declarations into concrete decisions.
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