Tehran, August 29 (MRUD NEWS)—Following the invitation of BRICS from Iran to join this group of emerging economies during the fifteenth annual BRICS summit on August 24, 2023, Iran considers this as a historic achievement for a trade and strategic partnership.
BRICS, which is generally considered as a counterweight to Western dominance of the world order, has invited six nations to join the group at a meeting in South Africa; the countries include Iran, Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. They would join Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Previously on August 8, there was a joint conference in Tehran at the Institute for Political and International Studies (IPIS) of Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, between Iran and BRICS representatives including Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS). In the meeting, Shahriyar Afandizadeh, Iran deputy transport minister, elaborated potential capacities and road map for transport cooperation with this group.
The first and second panels of the conference were dedicated to the role of BRICS as a powerful economic bloc in the emerging multipolar world and performance of Iran through multilateral structures like ECO, D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation, and Eurasian Economic Union. In the last two panels, the potentials of Iran and BRICS's cooperation in energy, finance, investments, and transit were discussed.
Deputy Transport Minister of Roads and Urban Development, who spoke in the third panel of this conference titled as "Iran and BRICS: present and future", explained and expressed the potential capacities and the roadmap of Iran transport and transit cooperation with the BRICS group. He explained that "considering the new approach of Iran for international transport, transit and logistics cooperation, unique and outstanding opportunities are provided for Iran to strengthen and develop bilateral and multilateral partnerships and cooperation with regional countries as well as with organizations, economic, transport and transit alliances through a win-win cooperation".
This new approach is evident in strengthening the recent cooperation of the Islamic Republic of Iran with two members of the BRICS i.e. the Russian Federation and the Republic of India for developing the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), as well as with China, in line with the advancement of bilateral transport cooperation within the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in order to promote the East-West transit route through Iran's territory with the cooperation of other countries located on this route particularly Central Asia, Turkey and the Caucasus region, Afandizadeh continued.
In the meeting it was also mentioned that from the point of view of global and regional supply chain management and the important and key role of transportation and logistics in these chains, the Islamic Republic of Iran is an opportunity to accelerate development of the supply chains of the BRICS group and its allies and especially towards emerging markets, Affandizadeh continued.
The Islamic Republic of Iran, due to its location along East-West and North-South interactions, and its geopolitical position and having transport and logistics infrastructures in all modes of transport and being a member of the transit corridors draws a realistic and achievable vision regarding the evolution of the supply chains in this alliance. Also, the huge resources of energy and raw materials and industries and mines and skilled workforce for the processing of all kinds of raw and semi-finished products and shipments will add up to the cooperation with BRICS.
Afandizadeh explained that the main grounds of cooperation between Iran and BRICS include: 1) promotion of joint investment programs of BRICS members in the infrastructure and transportation and logistics facilities of the Islamic Republic of Iran, including rail and road networks, ports, fleets and logistics centers; 2) joint transformative actions; 3) implementing new logistics solutions for time and cost-effective transport through Iran's territory considering its access to high seas and the ocean in the south and the Caspian Sea in the north; 4) Focusing on developing a road map for cooperation in the development of transportation and logistics in the Caspian Sea in the east-west and north-south routes with an emphasis on participation in the investment of the infrastructure of the northern ports of Iran and its hinterland; 5) establishment of joint transport and logistics companies with an emphasis on technological and knowledge-based companies in Iran.
BRICS is a grouping of the world's leading emerging market economies, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS). The BRICS mechanism aims to promote peace, security, development and cooperation.
The 2023 BRICS summit was the fifteenth annual BRICS summit held from 22 to 24 August, an international relations conference attended by the heads of state or heads of government of the five member states including Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. The theme for the 15th BRICS Summit is “BRICS and Africa: Partnership for Mutually Accelerated Growth, Sustainable Development and Inclusive Multilateralism”.