President Raeisi, Putin discuss Iran's BRICS membership, bolstering ties

Iran Press TV

Thursday, 17 August 2023 6:59 PM

Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, have discussed Iran's future membership of the BRICS grouping of emerging economies and possible ways to strengthen economic cooperation.

Russian state news agency TASS, citing the Kremlin, also reported on Thursday that both head of state also reaffirmed their support for further developing bilateral ties in trade, transport and logistics, and energy.

The phone conversation comes as Iran is looking to join BRICS, the influential group of developing economies consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

As chair of the group of five countries seen as an alternative to the Western hegemony, South Africa will host the annual BRICS summit in Johannesburg on August 22-24.

The 15th summit of BRICS heads of state will be held next week, with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in attendance.

According to South Africa, some 40 nations have shown interest in joining, either formally or informally, including Saudi Arabia, Argentina and Egypt.

China wants to enlarge BRICS quickly, saying it "supports progress in expanding membership, and welcomes more like-minded partners to join the 'BRICS family' at an early date." Russia is also keen to bring in new members.

The South African and Iranian foreign ministers recently signed a cooperation deal ahead of the BRICS summit in Pretoria.

The top Iranian diplomat urged South Africa to support Tehran's bid for membership. Pandor expressed support for Iran's bid.

"We hope to obtain the opportunity of accelerated membership under the strong support we hope to receive from South Africa," Hossein Amir-Abdollohian said at a briefing in Pretoria.

Pandor, for her part, discussed the current political and security situations of African countries. She stressed Pretoria's support for the Palestinian people and said the United Nations showed disregard for the Palestinian people's choices.

Last week, Amir-Abdollahian at a ceremony in Tehran highlighted the significant role of BRICS in driving global economic growth, saying the Islamic Republic can be a "reliable and influential" partner of the five-member bloc.

The Iranian foreign minister emphasized that interaction with multilateral institutions has always been a key priority for the Islamic Republic.

The BRICS group of fast-developing economies is often seen as an alternative development partner to the Western economic and political hegemony.

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