Current Context : Recently, India participated in the first ministerial meeting of the BRICS group of countries with the newly added members held in the Russian city of  Nizhny Novgorod.

• Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates joined BRICS at the 15th BRICS summit meeting was held in Johannesburg, South Africa in August 2023.
• Russia is the current Chairman of BRICS.
• Brazil will be the next chairman of BRICS after Russia.

ABOUT BRICS

• BRICS is an intergovernmental organisation that originally consisted of four countries: Brazil, Russia, India, and China.
• The first summit BRIC countries was held in June 1996 in Yekaterinburg, Russia.
• The group’s name was changed to BRICS after South Africa joined the group in 2010.