Iran a sustainable partner connecting BRICS to energy chokepoints: Raeisi

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raeisi says the Islamic Republic can be a “sustainable partner” connecting the BRICS group of nations to energy chokepoints and major markets around the globe given its unique geopolitical and geoeconomic position.

“We are ready to share all our capabilities and potentials, including short and cheap transportation and transit networks, the exceptional asset of trained manpower as well as significant scientific achievements to [help] BRICS realize its goals,” Raeisi said in a televised speech at the BRICS Business Forum virtual summit, which was attended by the group’s top leaders on Friday.

He said the “new and diverse” challenges in the current interconnected world affect global friendship and peace. Raeisi underscored the need to boost interaction among BRICS countries in the face of new crises such as the coronavirus pandemic, climate change and regional and international conflicts.

There is collective experience and will to overcome the existing problems which would facilitate the realization of collective development initiatives, the president said.

“We need to strengthen the global platform for the effective role of independent multilateral institutions in achieving integrated development and global peace.”

The Iranian president said contradictory global approaches, unilateralism, nationalism and challenges such as sanctions and coercive economic measures underscore the importance of “creating and strengthening new institutions alongside the United Nations” in an attempt to take an important step towards the realization of a “human society with a common future” while respecting the national sovereignty of countries.

Raeisi said BRICS, as a pioneering group comprised of large emerging economies, has been able to launch new global trends by promoting its initiatives.

“With complementary economies and cultural diversity, BRICS members can meet one another’s needs and share their national and indigenous development experiences to promote global prosperity.”

He said BRICS has managed to play an effective role in advancing goals such as the development of South-South relations, reforming the international financial system and presenting ideas and initiatives by its members, which shows the group’s innovative nature and its effectiveness at the current juncture and in the future.

The Islamic Republic believes in global justice, President Raeisi said, emphasizing that it is an “undeniable necessity” to turn such an ideal into dialogue on the international level.

The BRICS group comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Their economies account for more than 40% of the global population and nearly a quarter of the world's gross domestic product.

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