Since 2024, two new African states, Ethiopia and Egypt, have become full BRICS members, marking the advent of a new phase in the evolution of the association's African dimension. The expansion of the African continent within the club demonstrates BRICS' dedication to the South-South dialogue and the growing importance of Africa and also reflects broader shifts in the global power dynamics.

However, it also underscores a transition towards a polycentric world order in which the African continent is assuming an autonomous role in global affairs. At the same time, there is a disproportionate representation of the continent in BRICS, as none of the states of Western and Central Africa has so far been a full member of the association.

This article examines the process of transformation of the BRICS African track, from its initial BRICS Plus and BRICS Outreach formats to the partial representation of the continent at the sub-regional level by the recently-appointed permanent and partner members of the association. It has been suggested, however, that the informalized nature of the association, which has long been attractive due to the special dialogue format of the BRICS, will not be able to meet the growing demand for the inclusion of new actors. The more states that join the grouping, the greater the procedural and organizational clutter that awaits it. The African continent is home to 54 UN member states, the accession of each of which is unthinkable. The latest wave of expansion in 2025 with the introduction of a new category of “partner country”, despite the inclusion of Nigeria and Uganda, still does not make Africa equally represented in BRICS. In this regard, it remains relevant to study the prospects for the development of the African vector of BRICS and the search for new non-state formats of cooperation.

The article discusses the problem of the continent's further integration into BRICS, in particular the extent to which potential expansion could challenge the established dialogical format and lack of institutional overload that have been responsible for BRICS' success. The authors analyze the prospect of inviting the African Union (AU) as a continent-wide representative to address the above issue. Based on the analysis of the key documents of the AU and BRICS, the authors examine the proximity of the two organizations both politically and ideologically (compliance with the so-called “spirit of BRICS”) and practically (coincidence of agendas and projects). The paper analyzes the internal architecture of the AU and the BRICS to identify possible obstacles and difficulties on the way to the integration of the two organizations

This article was submitted 29.11.2024