Alwaght- As the world experiences new changes and developments, the political and economic groupings across the world take new forms.
In recent years, the China and Russia-led BRICS economic bloc has tried to present itself as an alternative to the transitioning international management system, and meanwhile it has worked on measures to de-monopolize the security mechanisms at regional and international levels.
That is why the secretaries of national security of the member states gathered on Wednesday in St Petersburg, Russia to discuss agenda of the bloc ahead of a scheduled meeting of the leaders.
In the meeting of the security officials of the BRICS member countries, while emphasizing the strengthening of the relations among the countries in political, security and economic dimensions, the issue of dealing with terrorism, which is one of the most important threats to the security of the countries of the world, including the BRICS members, was emphasized.
In his address to the meeting, President Vladimir Putin of Russia said that BRICS has gained a considerable experience in responding to security challenges, including cyber crimes and terrorism.
Examining and providing solutions to international and regional crises, including the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, as well as emphasizing new security plans, indicate that BRICS is trying to play an active role in solving international crises and challenges.
Given the emphasis of the BRICS security officials on deepening the economic, security, and political cooperation, the bloc's members are expected to have the necessary resolve to adopt the plans and ideas raised during the meeting. After all, the BRICS's plans on the international stage not only serve the interests of all members, but also upgrade the BRICS position in the emerging world order.
BRICS opening windows for settling international security crises
Although BRICS is mainly an economic institution, the members of this bloc are trying to boost the level of relations and cooperation in all areas, remove the order built and dominated by the West for several decades, and create a new and fair order based on mutual respect for the nations.
The new international security order that the BRICS members are looking for, with the role play of emerging powers, with important goals in mind, can create a strong core of security at the regional and international level, which is opposed to what the US-led unipolar system has been pursuing. In this regard, strengthening the cooperation of BRICS members is an inevitable necessity, even more than in the past.
The Bretton Woods system of monetary management that was established after the WWII by the US and its Western allies has been largely unfair, and the West has used its dominance over this system to put pressure on the countries not aligned with the Western policy.
By imposing cruel sanctions against some countries in the past decades, the US has placed many obstacles on their way to development, but BRICS is trying to remove this dominance so that all countries can cooperate with each other in a fair global order.
The present security system of the world has shown that it is not capable of managing and solving regional and international crises, and we can see its malfunction when it comes to Ukraine and Gaza wars, where the US and other Western countries support one side of the war and this not only does not help settle the crises, but also pours fuel on the fire.
Due to its veto right in the UN Security Council, the US has not allowed an anti-Israeli resolution to pass over the past eight decades, something encouraging Tel Aviv to massacre more Palestinians and block any prospects for end of this decades-long dispute. So, BRICS members that are increasing day by day are trying to review these unfair political and economic mechanism that have arisen from the American unilateralism.
Iran's proposals to BRICS
As a regional power that has made many achievements in the economic and security fields in the past decade, Iran has presented its plans to other BRICS summit to strengthen the position of this nascent institution in the world.
The secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Akbar Ahmadian in his address to the meeting said that "certainly, the common interests of the BRICS members and at the same time our common threats have provided the basis for wider cooperation in various fields, which need to be recognized and expressed with a more intelligent and accurate look."
Ahmadian proposed founding a security structure dubbed "BRICS Security Commission", adding that this commission will work by defining joint cooperation mechanisms in the fields of international peace and security to deal with common threats such as terrorism, extremism, drugs and abuse of emerging artificial intelligence (AI) technology, satellites, electromagnetic quantum, maritime insecurity, human trafficking, illegal biological activities, cyber crimes and common economic structures to create interests and opportunities for the member states. He added that along with economic cooperation, the BRICS members can establish a new security order on the world stage to address the weaknesses and vacuums of the present security order.
Ahmadian presented a specific proposal package to the meeting that includes the following items:
"International bilateral and multilateral cooperation on information security based on Iran's theory and approach to information security- multilateral institutions and structures in the field of information security and cyber security and removing cyber space from under monopoly of a country or a pole-cooperation for formulating relevant laws and regulations in relation to the information security and cyber security in various dimensions and coordinated defense in international forums such as ITU and countering the US unilateralism in cyberspace- formation of anti-sanctions coalitions and the use of unsanctionable non-American systems and platforms for financial and economic exchanges among members- the division of labor between independent countries for the production of hardware, software, datacenters and independent platforms."
In the past four decades, Iran has had a brilliant experience in neutralizing sanctions, and it can share these successes with BRICS members, some of whom are under Western sanctions, and remove the lever of American pressure.
This path along with de-dollarization can grant weight to this emerging bloc against the West, and actually with the elimination of dollar domination, the emerging countries can move the way of growth without any economic threats and make BRICS the most powerful economic institution.
The Stimson Center, an American think tank, says that "the Iranian government still has the potential to increase its oil and non-oil exports to BRICS members using the Chinese yuan, local currencies, and barter arrangements. This strategy can reduce a significant part of the pressure caused by the US sanctions."
Putin warmly receives Iranian delegation
The BRICS Security Summit in St. Petersburg provided an opportunity for the participating officials to have bilateral meetings and discussions on issues of interest, in addition to collective cooperation on the agenda of the summit.
In the meantime, the Iranian delegation headed by the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council also held various meetings with senior security officials of the countries present at the meeting, among the most important of which was Ahmadian's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss some of the most significant issues of the day in bilateral relations and regional and international developments.
In his meeting with the Russian leader, Ahmadian beside passing the regards of Iran's Supreme Leader Sayyed Ali Khamenei referred to the inauguration of the new government in Iran, adding that the expansion of bilateral relations with Moscow will continue under administration of President Masoud Pezeshkian.
In the meeting, Putin described his country's bilateral relations with Iran as "strategic". He said: "We should note that the friendly relations between Russia and Iran have become more dynamic in recent years. All these developments happen mainly with the support of the leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei. I ask you to convey my best and kindest wishes to him."
Referring to the upcoming leaders-level BRICS summit, Putin said that "during the upcoming BRICS summit in Kazan, I will meet separately with the Iranian president."
Pointing to the process of writing the comprehensive long-term agreement between the two countries, Putin held that Russia is expecting the Iranian president's separate visit [to Moscow] to sign the new strategic partnership agreement.
It is noteworthy that Iran and Russia have drawn up a 20-year strategic agreement and this agreement is expected to be signed soon by the top officials of the two countries, and probably bilateral agreements and strengthening of relations will be discussed in the meeting between Pezeshkian and his Russian counterpart on the sidelines of the BRICS summit.
Maintaining that Russia is determined to partner with Iran in various areas, the Russian leader added: "The volume of trade between the two countries has increased by about 10 percent in the first 6 months of this year."
Holding that cooperation with the new Iranian president is a priority to Russia, Putin said that advancing North-South Corridor is a priority for the two countries, adding that "we support Iranian communication routes."
For his part, Secretary of Russian National Security Council Sergei Shoigu in his meeting with Ahmadian stressed on the resolute policy of Moscow regarding Zangzor Corridor in Caucasus.
"Russia commits to previous agreements with Tehran regarding Zangzor, and Moscow's policy in this regard has not changed in any way," Shoigu said.
The remarks of the Moscow officials about this controversial corridor that the Azerbaijan intends to construct on the borders of Iran and Armenia show that the Russians are aligned with the policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran and know that they must involve Tehran in any geopolitical changes.
Due to its strategic position on the important East-West trade corridors, Iran can help Russia and other members of BRICS to easily do business with other parts of the world.
Once completed, North-South Corridor can play an important role in trade growth in the region and Russians are well aware of Iran's place in the world trade.
Due to closure of its corridors with Europe after Ukraine war, Russia is setting its eyes on alternative southern corridors and is trying to eliminate part of Western-imposed restrictions on its trade using North-South Corridor.
