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Ethiopia’s entry into the BRICS mechanism is expected to facilitate the country’s economic growth, and help forge strong and lasting political cooperation with the BRICS family, Ethiopian experts have said.
BRICS leaders agreed on Thursday to invite six countries, namely Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), to join the group. Their membership will take effect on January 1, 2024.
“Working with these countries advances our economic development by attracting foreign direct investment for industrialisation and infrastructure projects,” Balew Demissie, an associate professor at Addis Ababa University, told Xinhua in a recent interview.
Highlighting the potential advantages of Ethiopia’s collaboration with BRICS, the professor said “the cooperation can improve connectivity within the country and with neighbouring nations, facilitate trade, promote regional integration, and create new economic opportunities.”
Demissie further emphasised Ethiopia’s aim to modernise its agricultural sector, increase productivity, and improve food production and distribution through the utilisation of advanced agricultural technologies and know-how from BRICS countries.
He believes Ethiopia’s entry into BRICS can also expand the group’s influence and reach. “As an African country with a rapidly growing economy, Ethiopia can contribute to the collective strength of the platform and bring a fresh perspective to the African continent,” Demissie noted.
Mukerrim Miftah, an assistant professor at the Ethiopian Civil Service University, agreed, saying that “Ethiopia serves as a political anchor in East Africa and Africa as a whole, helping the BRICS counter the dominance of the West on the African continent.”
Miftah believes that admission to BRICS “will help Ethiopia forge strong, lasting economic and political cooperation with the BRICS family”. — Global Times.
Online Reporter