By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Iran has asked for the support of the South African government for an “accelerated membership” of the BRICS bloc, ahead of a Summit taking place later this month.
Iran is one of the dozens of countries lobbying to join the five-nation bloc, which is expected to make a pronouncement on its expansion at the summit holding August 22 to 24 in Johannesburg.
“We hope that the Islamic Republic of Iran will obtain the opportunity of accelerated membership in Brics” with strong support from South Africa and other members, its Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said at a briefing in Pretoria.
Iran despite seeking membership also encourages BRICS to add other nations seeking to join, including Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates.
Amirabdollahian said this would further consolidate the bloc seeking to rival EU and US.
He is visiting on the back of a conference that was held in Tehran earlier where the prospects for cooperation between Iran and the bloc comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa were discussed.
Relations between the two have been tense since the effective collapse in 2018 of an agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear programme.
The expansion of the group and the probable attendance of Iran at the summit isn’t aimed at building an anti-West bloc, South Africa’s Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said.
BRICS represents more than 42% of the world’s population, and accounts for 23% of global GDP and 18% of trade.
