Why Does Argentina Want to Join the BRICS?

Will Argentina join the BRICS? The member countries will be discussing the issue at their summit in July. Specialists at the HSE Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge ISSEK are studying the innovation potential of the BRICS countries. Senior Research Fellow Stanislav Zaichenko discusses what might be the impact of Argentina’s membership.

Argentina’s economy still has many agrarian features. Innovative growth was significantly undermined by the crisis in the early 2000s and a decline in production in the beginning of the current decade. According to the Global Innovation Index Argentina has many characteristics that could put it on the BRICS list, for example by dynamic spending on R&D and patenting activity, etc.

However, at the moment, next to the BRICS Argentina shows quite high potential in areas like energy (including nuclear and alternative energies) in ICT, healthcare and some others. In this context, increasing ties and foreign trade and financial links, primarily with Brazil and South Africa could be an important investment in Argentina’s economic growth.

Despite several differences in scale and structure between Argentina’s economy and the BRICS, (for example in foreign debt), in their promising future prospects they have a lot in common. Like the BRICS, Argentina is faced with the challenges of 'new industrialisation', 'smart specialisation' (in export policy and regional internal markets) and proactive designs for new aspects of socio-economic development.

By Stanislav Zaichenko, Senior Research Fellow of the ISSEK