Iran Press/ Africa: "South Africa is interested in Iran being accepted as a friendly country by the BRICS," Ramaphosa said, as quoted by Mehr News.
Ramaphosa also expressed hope that several cooperation documents between the two countries would be signed during Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi's official visit to South Africa. The visit is expected to take place on August 24, when Raisi will participate in the Friends of the BRICS summit, and later in autumn for bilateral discussions.
On May 2, President Raisi announced that Tehran had decided to apply for membership in the BRICS after joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. However, at a meeting on June 1 in Cape Town, the BRICS foreign ministers decided to revise the concept of expanding the association.
The following day, a meeting of "friends of BRICS" was held with foreign ministers from member countries and 12 other states from the Global South expressing their desire to join the community.
The BRICS summit is scheduled to take place in Johannesburg from August 22 to 24, with South Africa serving as the chair. Naledi Pandor, South Africa's Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, stated that the leaders of the BRICS countries will convene at the summit to deliberate on the potential expansion of the organization.
BRICS is a grouping of the world economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa formed by the 2010 addition of South Africa to the predecessor BRIC.
Pandor revealed that a total of 23 countries, including Iran, have formally applied for membership in the association. The BRICS group was established in 2006 and initially comprised Brazil, Russia, India, and China. South Africa joined the association in 2011.
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