TEHRAN – Ali Akbar Ahmadian, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, met in South Africa with his counterparts from the “Friends of BRICS” group of countries. 

Ahmadian arrived in Pretoria on Friday morning to attend a meeting of the group. After arriving in Pretoria, the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran headed to the BRICS Friends Conference in Johannesburg, according to IRNA.

During this trip, Ahmadian is expected to meet with a number of his counterparts on the sidelines of this meeting. He also will give a speech at the meeting of friends of BRICS. South Africa is one of the five members of the BRICS group, which will host the BRICS summit in late August this year.

Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa are the five BRICS members. This international economic organization plans to accept new members by developing a new policy. The Islamic Republic of Iran is one of the countries that seeks to join BRICS.

Ahmadian delivered a speech at the BRICS Friends meeting. He said Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela joining the BRICS would raise the group’s share of world energy resources to an excellent level. He also outlined the Islamic Republic of Iran’s position on cyber security, among other things. 

“The experience of my country has shown how the Americans have tried to create different types of interventions and insecurities in other societies by using these [cyber] facilities,” Ahmadian said. 

In early June, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian attended the Friends of BRICS Foreign Ministers Meeting in Cape Town, South Africa. 

“The “Friends of BRICS” are genuinely “Friends of Cooperation and Partnership”; and indeed they are “Friends of Multilateralism”. The Islamic Republic of Iran is among the pioneers of multilateralism. Our bilateral political and economic relations with the BRICS countries remain at a very good level while our trade value exceeds 30 billion dollars. here are very important multilateral cooperation arrangements to which Iran and some of the BRICS countries are members,” the Iranian foreign minister said in a speech at the meeting, adding, “We will soon expand our relations with three BRICs countries; namely Russia, China and India within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The Islamic Republic of Iran, the Republic of India and the Republic of South Africa are the active members of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) and are cooperating in various economic sectors. Moreover, the Islamic Republic of Iran, China, India, Brazil and South Africa are among like-minded and active members of the group of developing countries called G-77.”

Amir Abdollahian pointed out that Iran, along with other like-minded and interested countries, can be a reliable partner for BRICS in the future. “Having a rich experience of active participation in international bodies and initiatives; abundant energy resources; short and cost-effective transport and transit networks; educated and skillful human workforce; eye-catching scientific and technological achievements; and above all, strong dedication and determination for contribution into a fair world order, the Islamic Republic of Iran can become an important partner for BRICS,” he said.