Iran officially participates for first time in BRICS summit as full member
Tuesday, 30 January 2024 Iran’s representatives have officially taken part for the first time in a meeting of the BRICS group of emerging economies in Russia, less than a month after joining the economic bloc as a full member. Among the representatives at the event are Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Affairs Mehdi Safari and ambassador to Moscow, Kazem Jalali. For the first time, delegates from the Islamic Republic of Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Ethiopia are scheduled to exchange views on BRICS plans in 2024 during the three-day meeting in the Russian capital city of Moscow. This comes as Russian, Chinese, Brazilian, Indian and South African diplomats are in attendance as representatives of the founding members of the bloc. Iran officially became a member of the BRICS at the beginning of this year, five months after it announced its acceptance as full member into the group along with Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, the UAE and Saudi Arabia. BRICS was formed by and initially consisted of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, which collectively represent around 40% of the global population and a quarter of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP). Iran was among dozens of countries that sought membership in BRICS and had submitted a formal application to join the body.
