Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Indonesia and Egypt are among the potential candidates to expand the five-nation bloc, many of them seeking stronger ties with non-Western powers. Iran is also interested.
Leaders of Brazil, India, China and South Africa addressed other topics, but Russia’s president, unable to attend in person because he is wanted for war crimes, put the war in Ukraine at center stage in the meeting.
The fate of Indonesia’s unrivaled stocks of nickel — a critical mineral used to make batteries for electric vehicles — is caught in the conflict between the United States and China.
Josephine Komara has redefined a cultural expression that was intricate and lovely but so locked in tradition it bordered on staid. “Tradition is the way we are,” she says. “Modern is the way we think.”