Hossein Amirabdollahian made the remarks during a meeting with his Brazilian counterpart Mauro Vieira on the sidelines of a meeting BRICS group of emerging economies in Cape Town, South Africa.
Amirabdollahian offered his congratulations on the victory of Lula da Silva in Brazil's presidential elections and expressed confidence that relations between Tehran and Brasilia will further expand in the new era.
“We consider Brazil as a big trader partner for Iran,” said Amirabdollahian. “The Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to develop and sign a comprehensive long-term cooperation program with Brazil.”
He noted that Brazil’s support for Iran’s membership in BRICS, in addition to strengthening multilateralism, will increase the volume of trade exchange and economic cooperation between Iran and Brazil.
The chief Iranian diplomat also invited his Brazilian counterpart to visit Tehran.
Vieira thanked Amirabdollahian for the invitation, saying that he would be happy to visit Tehran in order to find suitable solutions to strengthen bilateral relations at all levels.
Brazil is against unilateral sanctions, and the lifting of sanctions against Iran provides the basis for strengthening bilateral relations, he said, referring to the multilateral negotiations to revive the Iran nuclear agreement and to lift the US sanctions from Iran.