Explainer: Why did Indonesia join BRICS?  

The original four members held a summit in Yekaterinburg, Russia, in 2009

What is BRICS? 

The average person is likely to have heard of BRICS, and to associate the acronym of this intergovernmental group with its first five member countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The group formed in 2006, with its first official summit in 2009, and South Africa joining in 2010.

It might also be common knowledge that these countries came together to join forces as some of the world’s most important emerging economies. Together, they pose a challenge to the dominant political and economic power of richer countries in North America and Western Europe, or at least act as “a counterweight to the West”.  

What is less well known, however, is that beyond the original BRICS countries, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia are now also members, meaning the group is sometimes now known as BRICS+. Eight other ‘partner countries’ are in the process of becoming full members: Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Malaysia and Thailand. 

What does BRICS want? 

Indonesia was one of 13 nations added as partner countries of BRICS at a plenary session of the 16th BRICS Summit in 2024

As the BRICS website concisely states, “Historically, BRICS countries have sought to strengthen their economic ties and reduce dependency on the West”.

Analysis by economist Michael Burnand provides further insight: “If it all works out as planned, they will build a group of countries with their own currency outside of US dollar systems, where they could trade and conduct finance with one another completely independent of outside influence, which could look something like a less intimately placed European Union”.

While Burnand is of the view that members are on their way to making some of this feasible, he thinks BRICS is still a long way from reaching full independence from Western powers.  

Why should New Zealand care? 

The BRICS website and the World Economic Forum both place BRICS as accounting for roughly 40 percent of the world’s population or 3.3 billion people, and as representing between 25 percent and 40 percent of the world’s GDP.

By way of comparison, the World Economic Forum further points out that China represents over 19 percent of global GDP (based on purchasing power parity) and India over eight percent, while the US and the EU account for approximately 14 percent each.

Given the growing scale and economic clout of BRICS members, as well as the rapidly changing global geopolitical landscape, maintaining a close watch on BRICS’ developments is crucial for New Zealand’s foreign and trade policy.   

Why did Indonesia join BRICS? 

In 2023, BRICS leaders approved an invitation for Indonesia to join BRICS.

The key criteria for a country to join BRICS include being an emerging or developing nation with regional and global influence, alignment with BRICS' founding values, and full consensus from current member countries.

It is worth noting that Indonesia is also currently seeking membership of the OECD or the “rich club”, an organisation originally formed following the end of World War II made up of Western European countries. This would make Indonesia the first ASEAN country to join. It would also bring it a step closer to realising its Golden Indonesia Vision 2045, which includes the goal of becoming a developed country. 

On 7 January 2025, Indonesia – one of New Zealand’s six priority relationships in Southeast Asia and New Zealand’s tenth largest export destination – formally joined BRICS. At the time of the initial invitation, however, then-President Joko Widodo was reportedly hesitant to join.

Within Asia, Indonesia is well known for its non-alignment approach to foreign policy, and is seen as a balancing force between China and the West, requiring deft diplomatic skills as other states vie to sway Indonesia’s position. Widodo worried that joining BRICS could be seen as a challenge to the West by a future Trump administration.  

However, President Prabowo Subianto, who assumed office in October 2024, had a different take. The new leadership believed that joining BRICS would allow them to engage more broadly, therefore not committing Indonesia to align with any specific bloc, but rather reinforcing the country’s commitment to an independent and active foreign policy.  

President Prabowo Subianto believes joining BRICS will reinforce the country’s commitment to an independent and active foreign policy

External commentators have identified numerous motivations behind Prabowo’s move. At the national level, joining BRICS indicates that Indonesia is “seeking development opportunities, rather than endorsing Russia’s or China’s views on the world order”, which in turn signals a desire for Indonesia to become more active in international forums while remaining independent.

Others have also pointed out that Prabowo himself likely wishes to stand out as a global leader and harbours hopes for greater economic opportunities, such as opening alternative export markets for Indonesia, particularly as politicisation makes trade with markets like the US and Europe more difficult. 

Indradi Soemardjan, Chairperson of the Indonesia-New Zealand Friendship Council and a senior executive in the ASEAN and New Zealand business communities, tells Asia in Focus that Indonesia’s membership of BRICS will allow it to diversify its trade relationships beyond traditional Western markets. The implication of this, Soemardjan says, is reducing Indonesia’s dependence on traditional partners, and fostering new economic partnerships with emerging economy perspectives in multilateral institutions, as well as advocating for greater representation and reform of global organisations. 

What does all this mean for New Zealand, Indonesia and others in a time of shifting global settings? 

At the time of writing, under Trump’s recent round of global tariffs, Indonesia has been given a 32 percent tariff on imports (much higher than the 10 percent assigned to many other countries), in part, because it was seen as “not agreeing to apply tariff rates on a reciprocal basis”. Senior economist Bhima Yudhistira has advised that Indonesia should first try negotiating with Trump over the tariffs, but if that was unsuccessful, “to strengthen its intra-trade and investment cooperation with BRICS nations”.  

President Donald Trump signs an Executive Order on the Administration’s tariff plans at a “Make America Wealthy Again” event in April 2025

Like New Zealand, Indonesia is not planning any retaliatory trade measures against the US, preferring instead to “pursue diplomacy and negotiations to find mutually beneficial solutions”.

In response to recent questioning over Trump’s tariffs on New Zealand and the implications for trade, Prime Minister Luxon appears open minded, in principle, regarding our future strategy as long as respect for the international rules-based system and trading arrangements are adhered to.

As RNZ reports, “Luxon said the future of trade for New Zealand lay in ‘forming partnerships’ with other nations, such as through agreements like the CPTPP – and perhaps expanding it to include the economic powerhouse that is China”.  

BRICS members themselves see opportunity within the so-called trade wars, namely increased trade among BRICS nations, diversification of current trade partners and challenging the dominance of the US dollar in global trade and finance.

A recent BRICS article states: “The idea of creating a BRICS-backed currency or increasing the use of the Chinese yuan in global trade could gain momentum in the coming years. Countries outside the bloc may view this as a viable alternative to US economic hegemony”. 

An (unpredictable) future outlook 

New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) emphasises the importance of Indonesia as a trading partner underpinned by the two countries’ comprehensive partnership and regional free trade agreements, telling Asia in Focus that Indonesia’s participation in BRICS will not change New Zealand’s ability to cooperate with Indonesia on bilateral, regional or multilateral levels.

The economies of BRICS members such as Indonesia and India are vastly different from that of New Zealand. However, there are points of commonality. Many countries right now are navigating their way between the dominant forces of China and the USUS, and it will be important to learn from each other in managing these relationships.

In terms of BRICS members in particular, there are useful similarities between members' policies of non-alignment – like Indonesia and India – and New Zealand's emphasis on the maintenance of an independent foreign policy.  

Given the importance of Indonesia as one of New Zealand’s six priority relationships in Southeast Asia, the recent restart of New Zealand’s free trade agreement talks with India, and the growing size and influence of BRICS in an unpredictable world order, it is clear that New Zealand will need to keep a close eye on BRICS as 2025 unfolds.

As countries look to build a broader set of relationships to mitigate great power pressures,  international fora formed by non-Western countries and developing economies will become increasingly important. 

The author would like to thank Indradi Soemardjan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Michelle McCarthy, Dr Jordan King, and Alex Smith for their support in the development of this article.   

About the author 

Dr Anita Perkins is a research consultant and government policy analyst based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington). Anita is passionate about connecting, carrying out research and story-telling to support positive outcomes on social and environmental issues. She has represented New Zealand internationally on climate change and whale conservation. Anita holds a PhD in German and spent a few seasons skiing and teaching English in Japan. 

The Foundation's Asia in Focus initiative publishes expert insights and analysis on issues across Asia, as well as New Zealand’s evolving relationship with the region.