Chinese President Xi Jinping and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi agreed to deepen cooperation within BRICS and other multilateral platforms when the two leaders met on the sidelines of the 15th BRICS Summit on Thursday.

The BRICS - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - announced six new members on Thursday: Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Xi congratulated Iran on joining BRICS, stressing that the membership expansion, thanks to the joint efforts of all parties, is historic. He said that the new members are all influential countries and the addition will impact the world profoundly. China is willing to strengthen cooperation with Iran through BRICS and other multilateral platforms and promote the healthy and strong development of multilateralism, the Chinese leader said. 

Xi noted that the two sides have been working to implement the agreement reached since Raisi visited China in February, yielding positive results. He said he is happy to see that Iran and Saudi Arabia restored diplomatic ties and promoted the security and stability of the Middle East, with the joint efforts of China and the two countries. China is willing to work with Iran to enhance rapprochement, deepen mutual trust, and support each other on issues of core interest, so that the China-Iran comprehensive strategic partnership could achieve more, he said.

Raisi, for his part, said that Iran highly values the BRICS membership and appreciates China's support. He noted that the accession provides new impetus for the development of Iran-China ties, benefits the two sides' collaboration in multilateral platforms and helps better implement the Global Security Initiative, the Global Development Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative proposed by President Xi. He thanked Xi for his important role in brokering the dialogue and agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Raisi also said that BRICS' membership expansion shows that unilateralism is declining. Iran is resolute in deepening the comprehensive strategic partnership with China, and is willing to join hands with China to further advance the two countries' comprehensive strategic cooperation and boost the two sides' cooperation in building the Belt and Road Initiative, he said.