Ethiopia has officially requested to join the ‘Brics’ alliance and Foreign Minister Meles Alem has publicly stated that the country is hoping for a positive response.
Brics, an acronym that stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – is viewed by some, as an alternative organisation to the G7 group of developed countries.
Until recently, Ethiopia could boast of having one of the largest economies in Africa, and had been benefitting from an increase in trade with countries like China and India among others, but its economy seen better days, no thanks to war and drought.
Earlier this June, the Brics group had announced that they had received requests from several countries, African states included, conveying their interest to join the club of still developing economies.
The nations making up Brics have a total population of over 3.2 billion people. This means that roughly, about 40% of the world’s eight billion people make up the group.