Algeria's road to BRICS is not paved

"These crises have disrupted the global economy and created new challenges, including food security, for countries like Algeria."

Another reason for Algeria's interest in new partnerships is its newfound keenness on cooperation and partnership.

Suleiman explains: "Since President Tebboune came to power, Algeria has been leaning towards establishing partnerships based on mutual interests instead of unilateral decision-making."

BRICS is a group of emerging economies that was established in 2009. It began with four member states – Brazil, Russia, India, and China, and was later joined by South Africa in 2010.

It aims to break global financial hegemony by challenging Western dominance — particularly that of the United States. In many ways, BRICS is trying to level the playing field and create a fairer global system.

Is the road paved?

Despite its desire to join the bloc, Algeria has some ways to go before being able to meet the requirements to do so. One of the key prerequisites for joining BRICS is a strong GDP, Suleiman explains.

"While Algeria cannot be a full-fledged member of the upcoming summit of the organisation, it hopes to be an observer member who will also participate in the group's New Development Bank," Tebboune said.

Tebboune said he aims to bring Algeria's GDP up to $200bn by redoubling efforts in investment, economic and human development and boosting exports.

But the challenge lies in the modest size of Algeria's economy. According to the World Bank, Algeria's GDP was around $163bn in 2021. This is significantly smaller than the GDPs of the other BRICS countries.

To put things into perspective, the GDP of South Africa — the smallest among BRICS countries — is around $419bn, which is more than double Algeria's economy.

This underscores Tebboune's drive toward the $200bn mark as a prerequisite for group membership, which experts believe can be done, especially because of its oil and gas reserves.

To this end, Algeria has set its sights on doubling gas production with the goal of achieving annual exports totalling 100 billion cubic meters by 2023. At the same time, a well-defined strategy has been crafted to reach $10bn in non-hydrocarbon exports within the same year and hopes to boost this figure even further to $15bn in the coming years.

Structural and developmental need

On his part, Dr. Nour al-Sabah Aknoush, a political science professor at the Algerian University of Biskra believes that a BRICS partnership with Algeria — regardless of whether it becomes a full-fledged member or not — would be a value add to the group.

"BRICS sees Algeria as a pivotal player capable of facilitating the bloc's penetration into uncharted markets like Africa and Europe. Additionally, Algeria can extend BRICS' reach beyond its own borders, leveraging its spatial assets, resources, intellectual elite, and notably, its capacity to shape international and regional cooperation dynamics through non-Western approaches to development."

Many emerging economies around the world are hoping to join BRICS. They see it as a "structural and developmental necessity", Aknoush explains.

"On its part, Algeria is enacting a string of reforms necessary to join international blocs such as BRICS. These reforms will help Algeria grow and develop," he says.

"There is a strong political will to develop infrastructure so that it can adapt to the dynamics of new markets in Asia and Latin America," he explains.

"Should Algeria succeed, this could open the economy up to promising horizons and make it one of North Africa's strongest economies," he says.

Algeria is trying to align with the values promoted by the bloc, such as sovereignty, independence, and equitable allocation of resources and prosperity.

"BRICS and Algeria both stand to gain from cooperating with one another and should capitalise on the new world order that is currently forming."