Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on the sidelines of the 15th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, Aug. 24, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]

JOHANNESBURG, Aug. 24 -- Chinese President Xi Jinping said Thursday that China stands ready to strengthen cooperation with Iran on BRICS and other multilateral platforms, so as to push for healthy and robust development of multilateralism.

Xi made the remarks when meeting with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on the sidelines of the 15th BRICS Summit.

Xi congratulated Iran on becoming a member of BRICS, stressing that it is a historic event that the BRICS summit, with joint efforts of all parties, has made the decision to expand.

All the new members are countries with important influence, Xi said, expressing confidence that they will have a major impact on the world.

Xi said since Raisi's successful visit to China in February this year, the two countries' departments have wasted no time to implement the consensus reached between the two leaders, which has achieved positive results.

Xi said he is glad that with the joint efforts of China, Iran and Saudi Arabia, Iran and Saudi Arabia have achieved reconciliation, which promoted security and stability in the Middle East.

China is ready to consolidate its friendship with Iran, deepen mutual trust, continue to support each other on issues concerning respective core interests and push for more progress in China-Iran comprehensive strategic partnership, Xi added.

For his part, Raisi said Iran highly appreciates and thanks China for supporting Iran in becoming a full member of BRICS, which will provide fresh momentum for the development of Iran-China relations.

He said this is conducive to strengthening coordination between the two countries on multilateral platforms, and will also help better advance the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative proposed by President Xi.

Raisi expressed gratitude for Xi's important role in promoting dialogue and reconciliation between Iran and Saudi Arabia, adding that the expansion of BRICS shows that unilateralism is going downhill.

Iran's determination to deepen the Iran-China comprehensive strategic partnership is unswerving, Raisi said, adding that Iran stands ready to make joint efforts with China to further enhance the comprehensive strategic cooperation between the two countries and actively advance the Belt and Road cooperation.