Tehran, Aug 25 (IANS): Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has hailed BRICS for playing an independent and effective role with a great willingness globally, which makes it a favourable target for Iran in pursuit of promoting multilateralism.

He made the remarks on Instagram on Thursday while elaborating on the capacities of BRICS and the reasons for Iran's willingness to join the group, Xinhua news agency reported.

BRICS is an acronym for five major emerging economies, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Amir-Abdollahian added that the BRICS countries, home to more than three billion people, equal to 40 per cent of the world's population, and with a total area as big as one-third of the Earth's, possess important cooperation with Iran.

He listed Iran's capacities that can benefit the BRICS members as its geopolitical and geostrategic location, rich energy resources, skilled, specialised and efficient workforce, eye-catching advances in different areas and political stability.

The 15th BRICS Summit held in Johannesburg, South Africa, announced on Thursday that six countries, including Iran, Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have been invited to join the group, and their membership will take effect on January 1, 2024.

Amir-Abdollahian also said the US withdrawal from a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers in 2018, the Russia-Ukraine war and other international developments have well proved the negative function of the traditional international coalitions.

He stressed that adhering to the principle of pluralism through cooperation with diverse international mechanisms can be a favourable option for countries to safeguard their maximum interests.