MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina eager to join BRICS, Ambassador tells Moscow

Russia hears of Argentina's interest in joining BRICS and Putin flies to Iran, which has also applied to enter the alliance

Argentina's Ambassador to Moscow Eduardo Zuain Monday told the Russian Government that his country was looking forward to becoming a full member of BRICS, the global alliance formed by his hosts together with Brazil, India, China, and South Africa.

According to the latest report on world population, India and China are the two most important countries on the planet when it comes down to the number of people living there.

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Entering the newest and most rapidly growing economic alliance will help Argentina strengthen “its multilateral development” Zuain told the Russian news service TASS.

“One of our desires is to finally start working side by side with the big countries [BRICS],” Zuain added in line with recent statements from Argentine Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero.

Read also: China once again backs Argentina joining BRICS

“We look forward to the day when we finally join this group and multilateral development will help us to move forward,” the ambassador added, although he made no comments as to the moment when that joining might take place.

“The world now lacks the environment and other opportunities to conduct a normal dialogue,” Zuain insisted.

Both Argentina and Iran applied last month to join BRICS. At that time, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had said these countries are worthy candidates and that the preparatory process for expanding the organization had already been launched. Iran, the other country hoping to join BRICS, has the second-largest gas reserves in the world.

Regarding Iran, in a very much interconnected world where things do not happen randomly, Russian President Vladimir Putin is to visit Tehran on July 19 alongside his Turkish colleague Recep Tayyip Erdogan for joint talks on the Astana peace process with host Ebrahim Raisi as well as bilateral issues, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed Tuesday.

The political settlement in Syria was initiated by Russia, Türkiye, and Iran, the three countries that also acted as guarantors for the Syrian peace process, with government officials from Damascus and Syrian opposition members involved. The first negotiations were held in Astana, the then capital of Kazakhstan, in January 2017. Astana was renamed Nur-Sultan in 2019, yet the peace talks are still known as the Astana process.

China is by far the largest economy in the BRICS group, accounting for more than 70% of the group's collective economic power of US$ 27.5 trillion. India accounts for about 13%, and Russia and Brazil about 7% each, according to International Monetary Fund (IMF) data.

The BRICS bloc was created in 2009. All members combined, it accounts for more than 40% of the world's population and about 26% of the global economy.

A former Deputy Foreign Minister, Zuain was charged alongside former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (CFK) and other defendants of high treason for their involvement in the so-called Iran Memorandum case, an agreement whereby Argentina's judiciary inquest into the 1994 bombing of a Jewish Center in Buenos Aires involving Iranian suspects would abide by conditions imposed by the Asian country.

Zuain has also been instrumental in the arrival of anti-COVID-19 Sputnik V vaccines to Argentina, it was reported. In the meantime, a suspicious Venezuelan-Iranian cargo aircraft remains grounded in Buenos Aires under suspicion of having links with Iran-sponsored terrorist activities.