News - Middle East: Iran’s interim foreign minister has arrived in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod to attend the foreign ministerial meeting of the member states of the BRICS group of countries.

Upon his arrival early Monday, Ali Bagheri Kani was welcomed by Iran's ambassador to Moscow and the Russian Foreign Ministry’s officials.

Speaking to reporters at the airport, Bagheri Kani said this is the first meeting of BRICS foreign ministers after Iran became an official member of the group.

“BRICS is the biggest international economic and trade organization that operates outside the framework of Western unilateralism,” he said.

Iran's interim foreign minister added, “The presence of the Islamic Republic of Iran in this organization is indicative of the position and importance of our country in the multilateral [world] system.”

“Iran, as one of the pioneering countries in the field of multilateralism, has been making a serious effort since the beginning of its membership in the BRICS group to … stabilize the role of this organization within global economic and political mechanisms,” Bagheri Kani said.

In addition to Iran, foreign ministers from nine other BRICS member states will take part in the meeting, which will be held on June 10-11.

Cooperation of member countries within the group as well as major regional and international issues are on the agenda of the meeting.

Iran officially became a member of the BRICS at the beginning of 2024, five months after it announced its acceptance as full member into the group along with Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

BRICS was formed by and initially consisted of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, which collectively represent around 40 percent of the global population and a quarter of the world’s gross domestic product.

Iran was among dozens of countries that sought membership in BRICS and had submitted a formal application to join the body.

Source: Press TV