MIDDLE EAST OIL PRODUCERS JOIN BRICS, DITCHING PETRODOLLAR (UPDATE)

The 15th summit of the BRICS countries in Durban, South Africa has concluded with the member states deciding to conduct intertrade in national currencies. Apparently the gold backed trade settlement currency has been delayed, probably with the view to the complicated economic situation in China. Argentina, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates were welcomed as new members of the BRICS group, making the petrodollar a thing of the past. Nearly forty countries had formally applied to join the group, but the existing members did not reach the consensus necessary to be admitted. The leaders of China and India have agreed to work out a settlement of their territorial border dispute in northern India. 

Aug. 26, 2023 The Duran: Oil, food, trade and people; BRICS play long game.


The BRICS leaders left the door open to future enlargement. The new arrivals join founding members China, Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa, in a move that adds geopolitical power to the new multipolar world order. As members of a group that challenges the hegemony of the G7, Brazil and India have also been forging closer ties to the West.


On the way back from South Africa, India's PM Modi arrived in Athens for a official visit aimed at deepening bilateral Indo Greek cooperation in the fields of trade, business, investment, and defense a and cultural relations. Bilateral trade peaked in 2022 at 1.32 billion euros, up by fifty-eight percent. 

Reports say that India is also exploring the possibility of using Greece’s port of Piraeus for its European exports. In the past decade India's interests expanded from the Indian Ocean to the Eastern Mediterranean. 

Greece’s relationship with India is turning into a relationship of strategic importance. PM Modi noted that an agreement on mobility and migration will be signed soon. (More on Greek Reporter)


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