DUBAI, October 11. /TASS/. Tehran hopes to sign a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty with Moscow at the BRICS summit in Kazan, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said at a meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Ashgabat.
"I hope we will conclude this agreement during the BRICS summit in Russia," the presidential press service quoted the leader as saying.
"If we compare with other [countries], our positions are much more similar," the Iranian head of state added. The talks on the sidelines of the Interconnection of Times and Civilizations - Basis of Peace and Development international forum in Ashgabat became the first meeting between the presidents of Russia and Iran after Pezeshkian’s election to the post.
The comprehensive strategic partnership treaty, all necessary procedures for the signing of which have been completed, is intended to become a major milestone in the development of relations between Russia and Iran. On September 18, the Russian president approved the draft treaty. On October 4, Iranian Ambassador to Moscow Kazem Jalali said that the document was ready for signing.
On July 8, three days after his election as Iran's president, Pezeshkian said in a telephone conversation with Putin that he was ready to sign a strategic partnership treaty with Russia at the BRICS summit in October. The Iranian head of state emphasized that Tehran attaches great importance to relations with Russia, Iran's "friend and neighbor." During his conversation with Putin, Pezeshkian pointed to the importance of cooperation between the two states in BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).
The BRICS group has now gone through two waves of expansion since its inception in 2006. First, in 2011, South Africa joined founding members Brazil, Russia, India and China. Then, in August 2023, six new members, including Argentina, were invited to join BRICS after the intergovernmental group’s summit in Johannesburg. However, in December 2023, the new Argentinian government of President Javier Milei announced that it had declined the invitation for the time being because it considered integration with BRICS impractical. The five new members - Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - began working as full-fledged BRICS member states since January 1.
Russia has assumed the rotating BRICS chairmanship on January 1, 2024. It will last until the end of the year and will include more than 250 events. The main event will be the BRICS Summit in Kazan in October 2024. Putin said that he would hold a bilateral meeting with Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the summit.