DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran will soon join the New Development Bank, the development lender established by the BRICS group of nations, central bank governor Abdolnasser Hemmati said in a state media report published on Wednesday ahead of a BRICS finance meeting in India.
Iran remains under sweeping US and international sanctions, and it has yet to reach a peace deal to end the current conflict with the US and Israel, giving Tehran added incentive to seek alternative financial channels outside the dollar system.
The NDB’s corporate communications division told Reuters it could not confirm information regarding Iran’s membership.
Iran joined BRICS in 2024 as the group expanded, in a move aimed at deepening economic ties among emerging economies, and it has since made clear its desire to become a member and shareholder of the NDB.
The bank was set up by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa in 2015 to finance infrastructure and sustainable development projects. It has since expanded its membership to include the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and other emerging economies.
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“The most important result of cooperation among BRICS member countries is the establishment of the New Development Bank, and our country will soon become a member of this bank,” Hemmati said, according to state media.
Iran’s then-finance minister Abdolnasser Hemmati stands in front of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian at the Iraqi government palace in Baghdad, Iraq, on September 11, 2024. (Ahmed Jalil/Pool Photo via AP)
Hemmati is attending the first meeting of BRICS finance ministers and central bank governors, hosted by India, which holds the rotating BRICS chairmanship this year.
BRICS members have sought to reduce reliance on the US dollar by promoting trade and financial transactions in national currencies.
Hemmati said Iran believed BRICS members could conduct trade using their national currencies and was seeking bilateral and trilateral monetary cooperation with other members.
NDB membership is open to members of the United Nations, as well as to borrowing and non-borrowing member countries, the bank said. Uzbekistan became its 10th member on June 5.
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