President Luis Arce: Bolivia Hopes to Join BRICS Soon, ‘Bet’ on Bloc ‘From Outset’
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Bolivian President Luis Arce was one of the many of guests and delegations invited to the 15th BRICS Summit, where the group’s expansion-related issues topped the agenda. On the final day of the historic event, it was announced that Argentina, Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia had been invited to join the group.
Bolivia hopes to join BRICS soon, President Luis Arce told Sputnik. Speaking on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, the head of state also revealed that he plans to visit Russia in 2024.
“We have been betting on BRICS from the outset, and I think that our position is very clear, because the world is split into two blocs, one of which is in a state of decline, and the other - developing. And Bolivia wants to be an integral part of the driving force of this internationally-witnessed change,” said Luis Arce.
Bolivia’s president officially submitted his country's request to join the group of developing countries as a full-fledged member during his address at the 15th BRICS Summit held in Johannesburg, South Africa.
“We firmly believe that Bolivia's inclusion in the BRICS would be mutually beneficial, due to the concurrence in strategic areas such as energy, natural resources, agriculture, food production for export, science and technology... Bolivia shares with the BRICS a common vision for an international order based on equality, complementarity, solidarity, inclusion, consensus, mutually beneficial cooperation, respect for sovereignty and self-determination," he emphasized.
The Bolivian president attended the three-day summit of the BRICS group of major emerging economies - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - which was held in Johannesburg from Tuesday to Thursday. On the final day of the summit, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that BRICS leaders had decided to invite Saudi Arabia, Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt, Argentina, and the United Arab Emirates to join the bloc of nations.
Expansion of BRICS ‘Key’ Result
The expansion of BRICS, which accounts for over 31.5 percent of the world’s GDP, with another six members was singled out by Bolivia’s president as the key result of the latest summit of the group.
“We are very pleased that Argentina has become one of them, which shows that there is an interest in Latin America [to join BRICS]. We understand that this is a signal to all countries that step by step, as we follow the procedure required, Bolivia will also enter BRICS. This is another encouraging piece of news from this summit,” President Luis Arce said.
Currently, as many as 40 countries are ready and willing to join BRICS, among them Argentina, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Iran, and Indonesia.
The Bolivian dignitary recalled his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the gathering in South Africa, underscoring that they had touched upon key issues related to bilateral cooperation and BRICS membership.
“Russia has told us that it will support our entry into BRICS, and help us gain access to the BRICS New Development Bank, allowing Bolivia to be able to become a part of it and enjoy all the benefits,” said Luis Arce.
BRICS’ New Development Bank (NDB) was established in 2014, and aims to mobilize resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in the bloc and other emerging markets and developing countries through the provision of loans, guarantees, and other financial instruments. Ahead of the 15th BRICS Summit, NDB President Dilma Rousseff announced plans to start lending in the South African and Brazilian currencies as part of efforts to reduce reliance on the US dollar.
“We expect to lend between $8 billion-$10 billion this year. Our aim is to reach about 30% of everything we lend […] in local currency,” Rousseff was cited as telling media.
2 August 2023, 14:32 GMT
Beneficial Mining Projects
Prospects for the strengthening of relations between Bolivia and Russia, which have been developing at a good pace in the last three years, are very good, the nation's president underscored in his interview with Sputnik.
"I believe that we can develop more [spheres of cooperation]. Deepening of our ties will always be good," Arce emphasized, singling out the countries’ cooperate in such important spheres as nuclear research, medicine, and lithium production, as well as the development of the country’s salt deposits.
Developing the Andean nation’s lithium reserves has become a highly important aspect of its development. The South American region boasts the largest reserves of lithium, a chemical element essential for electric vehicles, on the planet. Deposits in Bolivia are estimated at over 21 million tons. Together with Argentina and Chile, Bolivia is part of the famous Lithium Triangle.
“We have made it clear that Bolivia has the largest lithium reserves in the world, and would like to be able to exchange technologies and investments to develop these deposits. We have everything we need for traditional mining, but when it comes to the rare minerals and metals that Bolivia is rich in, it might be better to mine them together with the countries that are part of the BRICS group, as an alternative. Trade, investment, mutual exchanges and cooperation are precisely the areas that we are very happy to see developing among the BRICS countries,” Bolivia’s president said.
Bolivia Eyes ‘De-Dollarization’
Bolivia has long signaled its intention to move away from using the dollar in settlements, the president said, because there are other currencies that can replace it. Bolivia proposed to use the Chinese currency as a means of payment, he added, clarifying that his nation trades predominantly with China, with most of its imports also coming from the Asian giant. The dollar is still used in trade, converted to yuan, and then back to the greenback, he stated, adding:
“We are doing unnecessary things by using the dollar as an intermediate means of payment, when we could transact with China directly, which means better trade with that country. There is a long friendship between China and Bolivia. We think this is the way to start de-dollarization in international trade.”
Previously, experts told Sputnik that BRICS' plan to make financial settlements in their own currencies fits into La Paz's "Bolivianization" strategy. The Bolivian authorities are seeking to bolster the nation's currency, the boliviano, in order to start drifting away from the dollar.
