Uganda is officially joining BRICS as a Partner State, a move which goes effective from the first quarter of 2025.
Kampala is thus becoming the first member of the East African Community to make such bold move. Whether the other eight EAC members will follow suit is yet to be seen.
BRICS, which is an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, is a forum for cooperation among a group of leading emerging economies.
With Uganda joining, it means BRICS is making its presence felt in the Arusha-based East African Community (EAC), where Kampala happens to be a member and a founding one at that.
The eight-member-state, East African Community which emulates the European Union (EU) comprises Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda as founding countries, as well as Burundi, DR Congo, Rwanda, Somalia and South Sudan.
On the other hand the BRICS is essentially supposed to be an intergovernmental economic and political organization which begs to differ from western policies.
The BRICS platform started out with a membership of nine (9) countries including Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Iran, the Russian Federation, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Now with Uganda joining in 2025, the number of BRICS countries should be reaching ten and counting.
It is not known whether with the inclusion of more countries in the fold, the BRICS title will be extended or changed to accommodate new members in its descriptions.
So far the group’s identity is written as BRICS+ meaning ‘BRICS Plus,’ which indicates that there is room for more members after the inaugural five.
Dealings among the BRICS countries are piloted through non-interference, equality, and mutual benefits.
Leaders of the founding BRICS countries, that is Brazil, Russia, India, and China held the forum’s first summit in Moscow in 2009 under the identity of BRIC.
South Africa attended its first summit as a member in 2011 after becoming the first African State to join the group in 2010.
Later, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates attended their first summit as BRICS member states at the 2024 summit which was again held in Russia.
At the moment all BRICS institutions are regarded to be an alternative to organizations led by nations of the G7 bloc comprising some of the leading economies.
Together BRICS are implementing competing initiatives such as the proposed New Development Bank, the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement, BRICS pay, the BRICS Joint Statistical Publication and the BRICS basket reserve currency.