The secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) has traveled to South Africa to attend a meeting of top security officials of the BRICS group of emerging economies.
Heading a delegation, Ali-Akbar Ahmadian left Tehran on Monday for Johannesburg, where he will deliver a speech at the 13th Meeting of BRICS National Security Advisers and High Representatives on National Security and hold talks with some of his counterparts.
He was invited to the meeting, scheduled for July 24-25, by the South African Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni.
The BRICS group of fast-developing economies — Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa — is often seen as an alternative to the Western economic and political hegemony.
The five-nation bloc accounts for 42 percent of the global population and about 26 percent of the world’s economy, according to the South Africa-based Institute for Security Studies.
Iran is among dozens of countries that seek membership in the BRICS and has submitted a formal application to join the body.
Russia and China have welcomed Iran’s application and the group’s expansion to include international powerhouses.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Tuesday that the Islamic Republic’s potential accession to the BRICS will promote multilateralism and counter unilateral policies, including sanctions.
“The world today is not a world of unilateralism. A new international order is shaping the world. One of the features of this new order is the countries’ focus and attempts to move from unilateralism to multilateralism,” the Iranian foreign minister said.
He added that Iran’s potential membership in the five-state bloc would provide the country with an opportunity to make use of great capacities from Africa to Asia, Latin America, and other countries.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi has been officially invited to take part in the 15th summit of BRICS heads of state in South Africa on August 22–24.