Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, who is in Cape Town to attend the meeting of BRICS Ministers of Foreign Affairs, held a meeting with Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates. on the sidelines of the South African-hosted meeting. 
The two sides discussed issues of bilateral and regional interest.
The UAE minister emphasized the expansion of trade and economic relations with Iran and said, “We are ready for mutual cooperation to further expand bilateral relations.”
The Iranian minister, for his part, expressed his happiness with the new positive atmosphere in the relations between the countries of the region and called the trend in the interest of all the neighbors. 
Amir-Abdollahian also appreciated the UAE efforts to expand bilateral relations and the very good participation of the UAE economic delegation in Tehran Expo and invited the Emirati counterpart to visit Tehran, in addition to describing the today meeting helpful in strengthening bilateral relations.
While in Cape Town to participate the BRICS meeting, Amir-Abdollahian held talks with the South African foreign minister Naledi Pandor, Saudi foreign minister bin Farhan and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavriv as well.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian arrived in Cape Town in South Africa on Thursday to attend the Meeting of BRICS Ministers of Foreign Affairs.
Foreign ministers from the Brics countries are meeting in SA from Thursday as the five-nation bloc seeks to forge itself into a counterweight to Western geopolitical dominance.
The talks are a prelude to an August summit in Johannesburg, media have reported.
Venezuela, Argentina, Iran, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are on a list of those who have either formally applied to join or expressed interest. 
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