Pretoria Backs Iran's Accession to BRICS — South African President

Cyril Ramaphosa also expressed hope that during the official visit of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to the African country, a number of documents on cooperation between the two countries would be signed

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa Sergey Bobylev/TASS

© Sergey Bobylev/TASS

TEHRAN, August 11. /TASS/. Pretoria fully supports Iran’s accession to the BRICS, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said at a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian.

"South Africa is interested in Iran being accepted as a friendly country by the BRICS," Ramaphosa said as quoted by Mehr News.

The President of South Africa also expressed hope that during the official visit of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to the African country, a number of documents on cooperation between the two countries would be signed.

According to the Iranian Foreign Minister, the President of the Islamic Republic is expected to pay two visits to South Africa: on August 24, he is to participate in the Friends of the BRICS summit and in autumn to discuss bilateral relations.

On May 2, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said that after joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Tehran decided to apply to the BRICS and is preparing to join this group of countries. On June 1, at a meeting in Cape Town, the BRICS foreign ministers considered the concept of expanding the association, but decided to send the document for revision.

The next day, a meeting of "friends of BRICS" was held, involving Foreign Ministers of the countries - members of the community and 12 other states of the Global South, that expressed their desire to join the community.

The BRICS summit will take place on August 22-24 in Johannesburg and will be chaired by South Africa. According to South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor, at the summit the leaders of the BRICS countries will discuss possible expansion of the organization. According to her, 23 countries, including Iran, filed formal applications for joining the association.

The BRICS group was formed in 2006. Initially, it included four countries - Brazil, Russia, India and China. South Africa joined the association in 2011.