Calls For Acceleration Of BRICS Expansion, Chinese President Xi Jinping: Create A More Fair Global Governance

JAKARTA - Chinese President Xi Jinping called for accelerated expansion of the BRICS group, which consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa on Wednesday.

Speaking at the 15th BRICS summit meeting held in Johannesburg, President Xi said he was pleased to see developing countries enthusiastic about participating and joining the bloc.

"We have to let more countries join the BRICS family to unite wisdom and efforts to make global governance fairer and evener," President Xi said.

During Wednesday's meeting, the block leaders weighed on regulations to accept new members into their group.

On the same occasion, President Xi also said the BRICS countries had agreed to launch a study group on artificial intelligence (AI), expanding cooperation in the AI sector, including by strengthening information exchange and technical cooperation.

Last month, South Africa said more than 40 countries had expressed interest in joining the organization, which aims to offset Western hegemony led by the United States in global affairs. Of these, 22 of them have officially asked to join, he said.

Beijing has long wanted the expansion of BRICS, with the hope that wider membership will have an influence on the group that has become home to about 40 percent of the world's population and a quarter of global gross domestic product.

Russia also wants to expand membership, while South African President Cyril Ramaphosa voiced his support for the idea at a bilateral meeting with President Xi on Tuesday.