BRICS membership to offer Iran more opportunities in multilateral cooperation: spokesman

TEHRAN, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Nasser Kanaani, said on Monday, the day Iran became an official BRICS member, that the multilateral platform provided by the BRICS enables Iran to grasp more opportunities to boost economic cooperation with other countries and better serve its national interests.

Making the remarks at a weekly press conference here in the Iranian capital, Kanaani said Iran had always seriously pursued and made efforts toward the promotion of multilateralism, and the country's full membership in the group was an outcome of its enhanced international status.

The BRICS is the acronym for an emerging-market cooperative mechanism that initially includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Iran was invited to join the bloc in August last year, with its full membership set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2024.

Kanaani stressed that with the accession of new members, BRICS had gained a new weight and importance in international equations, saying using the group's capacities, Iran would be able to further safeguard its national interests and improve its "constructive and influential" role in international multilateral equations.