The recently-announced BRICS expansion will strengthen the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries Plus (OPEC+) and give BRICS nations more leverage in negotiations on the global stage, a US economist said on Friday.
“The BRICS expansion will strengthen the BRICS members and give these members more leverage in negotiations in international forums. It will also strengthen OPEC+,” renowned US economist and President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network Jeffrey Sachs told Sputnik.
Sachs noted that the BRICS nations will play a leading role as the world goes through a deep energy transition to zero-carbon energy, including renewables, green hydrogen, and nuclear, among others.
At its recent summit in Johannesburg, the BRICS group of major emerging economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – announced that its membership is more than doubling. Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Saudi Arabia were invited to join BRICS with membership effective January 1, 2024.1
