Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi has met with his Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sideline of the BRICS meeting in South Africa.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was also present at the meeting.

Referring to the existing agreements between Iran and China, Raeisi emphasized the need for implementing the agreements within the framework of the 25-year strategic cooperation.

Xi Jinping, for his part, congratulated Iran on its BRICS membership and stressed that Beijing is ready to develop bilateral cooperation with Iran in different fields in order to strengthen multilateralism.

Iranian President also met and held talks with the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi later on Thursday.

Raeisi also held talks with the Saudi Arabian foreign minister Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud in South Africa.

Iran has officially become a member of the BRICS group of emerging economies, whose leaders are in Johannesburg, South Africa, to discuss the bloc’s expansion.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Thursday that the BRICS member states agreed to admit Iran, Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, the UAE and Saudi Arabia as new members.

According to reports published by Iranian media outlets, the 6 countries will join the BRICS group from January 1, 2024.

BRICS is made up of India, Russia, China, Brazil and South Africa. Heads of states of the group held their 15th annual summit in Johannesburg earlier on Wednesday, agreeing on mechanisms for considering new members and calling for the use of local currencies to facilitate trade.