Argentina not in any position to join BRICS bank- future Foreign Minister

Argentina is not in any position to join the BRICS New Development Bank, Diana Mondino, President-elect Javier Milei’s choice for Foreign Minister, said.

"As I understand it, we were invited to participate in BRICS, but there was no formal acceptance of the invitation. To join [the BRICS NDB] you need to contribute capital, and Argentina is not able to do this," Mondino told the Infobae portal.

In a question and answer session with other journalists, when asked whether Milei’s government was going to "reverse" joining BRICS, the future foreign minister replied that Argentina "has not joined BRICS."

Following the 15th BRICS summit, which took place on August 22-24 in Johannesburg, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that from January 1, 2024, the group will include Argentina, Egypt, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia. In mid-October, the government of Argentina submitted an official application to join the NDB.

On November 19, the second round of presidential elections took place in Argentina. Milei, a libertarian MP running for the right-wing Freedom Advances alliance, defeated Economy Minister Sergio Massa.

Milei has repeatedly stated that he does not intend to develop interstate relations with Brazil, China and Russia due to his disagreement with the policies of these states. But he asserted that he will not prevent private sector companies from doing business with them. Mondino said at the end of October that the Freedom Advances alliance now sees no point in Argentina's participation in BRICS activities, but did not rule out that this position could change. On November 25, the TN television channel reported citing sources in the coalition, that Milei’s team was looking at the possibility of joining BRICS with inactive participation in the group’s work.