Iran’s Foreign Ministry announced Monday that the country had applied to become a member of the group of emerging economies known as the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa).
Iran’s membership in the group “would result in added values for both sides,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said.
In a separate announcement, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Argentina had also applied to join the group. Argentinian officials could not be reached for immediate comment by Reuters.
The announcements came days after a BRICS summit during which officials examined the prospect of welcoming new nations to the group based on “full consultation and consensus.”
Before the summit began, Saudi Arabia also voiced interest in joining the group, according to Business Standard. The subject of BRICS expansion was part of the June 23 virtual summit hosted by this year’s chair, China.
Commenting on Iran and Argentina applying to join BRICS, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said, “BRICS countries agreed that it is important to step up cooperation with other emerging markets and developing countries to improve the representativeness of the BRICS mechanism and make it loudly heard on major international issues so that we can better rise up to challenges and uphold the interests of emerging markets and developing counties.”
While recently traveling in Europe, Argentine President Alberto Fernandez restated his desire for Argentina to join BRICS.
Zakharova wrote on the messaging app Telegram, “While the White House was thinking about what else to turn off in the world, ban or spoil, Argentina and Iran applied to join the BRICS.”
Zhao said, “We shall continue to set clear priorities in our wide-ranging cooperation, on the basis of consensus, and make our strategic partnership more efficient, practical, and results-oriented.”
Russia has long been pushing to forge closer ties with Asia, South America, and the Middle East. Still, it has boosted its efforts recently to offset sanctions levied by the U.S. and other nations over its war with Ukraine.
