Tehran Wants Beijing’s Assistance To Join BRICS
With Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s visit to China now underway, the Iranian state media outlet ISNA has said that Tehran greatly appreciates China’s role in Iran’s accession to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and hopes for Beijing’s backing for its BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) membership bid.
“The Iranian president has set off for a visit to China for the first time in the past 20 years,” ISNA said. “Iran highly values China’s role in Iran’s accession to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and hopes for Beijing’s assistance in joining the BRICS.”
“On the other hand, for China, Iran is a country which plays an important role in the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative project,” it noted. “Iran’s geopolitical location and its control over the Strait of Hormuz are crucial for ensuring energy exports from the Persian Gulf region.”
“The president’s visit is a turning point in the process of the development of relations between Iran and China as two leading nations and two serious players in the regional and international arena,” the agency said.
“This is a good opportunity to give a fresh impetus to the implementation of the 25-year bilateral agreement on comprehensive cooperation.”
Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of the Iran-China Friendship Association stated that “China is Iran’s largest trade partner and our ties are expanding. China is among those countries that have historically maintained good relations with Iran.”
Since the beginning of the Iranian fiscal year, (commencing March 21, 2022), Iran’s trade with China has reached US$25.3 billion, surpassing Iran’s trade with the United Arab Emirates at US$19.8 billion, and Turkiye with US$11.7 billion.
Iran has plenty to bring to the BRICS grouping. It has a GDP of US$231.5 billion (which would be far higher if not for sanctions) a per capita GDP of USD2,760, making it a source of inexpensive skilled labor, and a population of 85 million. It’s 2022 growth rate was 3.7%
Iran also has the equivalent of over 1.2 trillion barrels of oil and gas and is the largest holder of hydrocarbon reserves in the world. Heavily sanctioned by the United States and Europe over plans for it to develop nuclear power plants (The West fears these could be used to make nuclear weapons capable of hitting Israel), Iran is however a member of OPEC, which also includes Algeria, Congo, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Venezuela.
It is a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation which includes China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as full members, while Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belarus, Cambodia, Egypt, Kuwait, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Turkiye, Turkmenistan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are all in various status as SCO dialogue partners and observers.
Iran has recently stated it will link its energy supply chains to SCO members electricity networks, and is the main transit focus for the International North-South Transportation Corridor (INSTC) which links trade from Europe, Russia, Turkiye, the Caucasus and Central Asia through to markets in East Africa, the Middle East and South Asia.
Iran has a Free Trade Agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) which includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia. Its main trade partners are China, UAE, India, Turkiye, Russia and Germany.
The BRICS has been approached by 13 other countries in terms of them acquiring official membership, including Iran’s regional neighbours Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. A trade overview of all these 14 proposed members can be found here.
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