TEHRAN - Iranian Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Mehdi Safari said on Friday that the country is completely ready to resume discussions on potential membership in BRICS' New Development Bank (NDB), IRNA reported.

Speaking in a meeting with NDB Head Dilma Vana Rousseff on the sidelines of the 15th BRICS Summit in South Africa, Safari invited Rousseff to visit Iran so that the country can have a share as a new member state in the bank and utilize its potential to finance projects.

Safari said that Iran’s membership in the bank would be a positive and helpful step for the country.

The NDB chair welcomed Iran’s interest in joining the bank, according to Safari.

Safari also noted that Iran has strong ties with the five member states of the BRICS group, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, and could expand trade and economic cooperation with them within the framework of the bloc.

He argued that Iran’s accession to BRICS would enhance multilateralism and bolster the political, economic, and trade power of the Islamic Republic.

During the meeting, the parties appointed their representatives to pursue the membership of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the New Development Bank.

Negotiations for Iran's joining the BRICS New Development Bank have been ongoing since 2017, and now the Islamic Republic is fully prepared to resume and speed up the process, according to Safari.

BRICS is a grouping of the world economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa formed by the 2010 addition of South Africa to the predecessor BRIC. The original acronym "BRIC", or "the BRICs", was coined in 2001 by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill to describe fast-growing economies that would collectively dominate the global economy by 2050.

The BRICS nations agreed on Thursday to admit six new members: Saudi Arabia, Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt, Argentina, and the United Arab Emirates.

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Photo: Iranian Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Mehdi Safari (1st L) and NDB Head Dilma Vana Rousseff (2nd R) meet on the sidelines of 15th BRICS Summit in South Africa on Friday.