TEHRAN- Ebrahim Raisi, the President of Iran, will depart Tehran for Johannesburg on Wednesday to attend the BRICS summit.

Raisi has been invited to attend the 15th summit of BRICS at the invitation of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

BRICS includes the economically-emerging countries of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

The Iranian president will meet with a number of the leaders present in addition to speaking at the conference.  

The BRICS summit will take place in Johannesburg from August 22 to August 24. The ceremony is being attended by the heads of 70 nations.

According to South Africa, around 40 countries, including Saudi Arabia, Argentina, and Egypt have formally or informally reportedly shown interest in joining the economic bloc.

The conference is likely to explore the group’s possible development into a geopolitical bloc to challenge Western dominance, dubbed BRICS Plus.

BRICS+ seeks to expand its membership in order to form a powerful transcontinental multilateral alliance. The strategy has given other nations the opportunity to strengthen ties with the bloc of significant developing economies in order to further their interests.

The BRICS and Africa meeting will also focus on how the group might strengthen ties with a continent that is increasingly becoming a scene for competition between world powers.

The fast-growing economies of BRICS members are frequently viewed as alternatives to the political and economic hegemony of the West.

According to the South African-based Institute for Security Studies, the five-nation group represents 26% of the world’s GDP and 42% of the world’s population.

The New Development Bank (NDB) launched by BRICS also aims to de-dollarize finance and increase local currency fundraising and lending, amid Western sanctions against founding shareholder Russia.

Iran has submitted a formal application to join the body. Russia and China have welcomed Iran’s application.

Back in July, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian stated that Iran’s potential membership in BRICS will advance multilateralism and challenge unilateral measures, such as sanctions.

He continued by saying that Iran’s future participation in the bloc will provide Tehran with the chance to utilize the huge capacities of nations in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and other regions.