Belgium takes over EU Council presidency - G7 presidency now with Italy
Also on Monday, Italy took over the chairmanship of the G7 group of major industrialized nations from Japan. The G7 includes the USA, Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan and Canada. The G7 is not an international organization, but an informal forum of heads of state and government. At their annual summit meetings, they agree on joint positions on global political issues.
The expansion of the so-called Brics Group also came into force on New Year's Day. The group of states originally consisting of the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa accepted Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates as full members. Argentina, which was also invited as a new member, declined to join under its new right-wing populist and ultra-liberal President Javier Milei.
The Brics states see themselves as a counterweight to Western countries and are trying to strengthen their international influence. China is the most powerful economy in the bloc and wants to further expand its global power in competition with the USA.
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Source: www.stern.de
