Jakarta. BRICS chair Brazil recently announced that the group had formally admitted Indonesia as its newest full member.

This means that it only took Indonesia almost three months to get accepted to the bloc which originally brought together Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa -- hence the acronym. 

The Brazilian Foreign Ministry said in an official statement that the BRICS leaders had endorsed Jakarta’s candidacy at its 2023 Johannesburg Summit. However, Jakarta only notified the group of its interest to join after President Prabowo Subianto rose to power last October. 

“In 2024, the BRICS countries approved by consensus Indonesia’s membership in line with the guiding principles, criteria, and procedures for expansion agreed upon in Johannesburg. The Brazilian government welcomes Indonesia for its entry into BRICS,” the Brazilian Foreign Ministry wrote Monday local time.

Brazil went on to say that it looked forward to having Indonesia “as Southeast Asia’s largest economy and most populous nation” in the club. 

In a separate press statement, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry said that Jakarta promised to “contribute actively to the BRICS agenda”, including promoting economic resilience and addressing food security, to name a few. Indonesia also saw its BRICS membership as a “strategic step to enhance collaboration with, and also between, fellow emerging economies in advancing the shared principles of equality, mutual respect, and sustainable development.”

Indonesia considers BRICS as a platform to make sure that developing countries are heard in global decision-making processes, according to the ministry. 

Jakarta’s BRICS membership marks the first major diplomatic move by Prabowo. The retired army general has said that he wanted Indonesia to be a friend to all and an enemy to none. 

Shortly after announcing his cabinet, Prabowo sent Foreign Minister Sugiono to the BRICS’ Kazan Summit last October. It was then that Indonesia announced that they wanted to be part of the group that represents at least 37.3 percent of the global gross domestic product (GDP). BRICS also granted the “key partner” status to Indonesia then, thus putting it in sort of a probation. 

Indonesia used to be quite hesitant about joining BRICS under the former Joko “Jokowi” Widodo government. In 2023, Jokowi flew to Johannesburg to attend the BRICS Summit as the ASEAN chair. Jokowi said at the time that Indonesia had decided not to rush with applying to BRICS, citing that Jakarta wanted to weigh the pros and cons first.

According to analyst Ahmad Khoirul Umam, a seat in BRICS could help Indonesia access funding from the alliance’s New Development Bank (NDB). This multilateral development bank has approved $32.8 billion worth of financing so far. Arsjad Rasjid, the chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), said Tuesday that the new status could enable the country to forge closer trade and investment ties with the BRICS economies.

At present, BRICS has 10 members. Aside from the five original members, it also includes Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). 

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