Argentina’s Brics membership unlikely, says Milei ally

An economist tipped to become Argentina’s next foreign minister was quoted as saying Argentina’s Brics membership may not happen.

Russia’s RIA news agency quoted Diana Mondino, who is likely to be in the cabinet of Argentina’s newly elected Javier Milei, as saying its Brics membership was unlikely.

Argentina was among six countries invited to become new members of the Brics at a summit held in SA in August, part of the bloc’s push to reshuffle a Western-dominated world order it sees as outdated. Saudi Arabia, Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates are the other five.

China on Monday reaffirmed its support for new countries joining the Brics grouping of developing nations. Beijing’s foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a press briefing she was not aware of Mondino’s reported comments.

“What I want to say is that the Brics co-operation mechanism is an important platform for emerging markets and developing countries to strengthen solidarity and co-operation and uphold common interests,” Mao said.

“Brics is also an open platform and we welcome any interested country to become a member of the Brics family.”

Milei, a right-wing libertarian who has sharply criticised China and the Brics bloc, was elected Argentina’s new president on Sunday.

Milei and Mondino had both opposed Argentina joining the bloc, whose core is composed of Brazil, Russia, India, China and SA.

“We don’t understand what the benefit (of joining Brics) is for Argentina at the moment. If it later turns out that there is a benefit, we will analyse it,” Mondino told the Russian news agency.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin said on Monday it had taken note of campaign statements by Milei, who has said he wants to pull back from relations with Moscow. The Kremlin said it still hoped the two countries could maintain strong ties.

Milei has previously said he would retreat from ties with countries including Russia, China and Brazil, citing disagreement with their governments’ policies. He has also expressed support for Ukraine in its conflict with Russia and sees the US and Israel as Argentina’s main partners.

“We noted a number of statements that Mr Milei made during the election campaign, but we will focus on and judge him mainly by the statements that he makes after the inauguration,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

Reuters