This comes after the Russian Ambassador in Cairo, Georgy Borisenko, revealed Egypt’s candidacy to join the “BRICS” group, telling Russian media: “Egypt has applied to join the BRICS group, because the “one of the initiatives that the BRICS are currently participating in is the conversion of trade into currencies.” As alternative as possible, whether national or the creation of a common currency, and Egypt is very interested in this question.
Last March, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi ratified the agreement establishing the new BRICS bloc development bank and Egypt’s accession document to the bank.
The BRICS await fundamental developments, which will be decided by the group’s next summit, which is expected to discuss the 19 membership applications, including Egypt.
The foreign ministers of the BRICS member states “Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa” held a meeting in Cape Town in early June, attended by diplomats from 12 countries wishing to join the group, including: Argentina, Egypt, Gabon, Indonesia and Iran.
The importance of the BRICS group
“BRICS” is the acronym of the first letters in English of the constituent countries of the organization, namely: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
The BRICS grouping is one of the largest economic groupings in the world, and the grouping accounts for about 30% of the size of the world economy, 26% of the world area and 43% of the world population, and produces more than a third of world cereal production.
The BRICS bloc was founded by Brazil, Russia, India and China in 2006, and South Africa joined in 2010.
South Africa, which assumed the rotating BRICS presidency last January, will host the 15th BRICS summit in August.
For its part, Egypt has been eagerly waiting since 2017 to join the BRICS group, as the State Information Service said that it “brings many opportunities and benefits, especially in terms of development, trade and development. ‘investment”.
In June last year, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi participated in the high-level global development dialogue session at the BRICS summit, at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, who was at the head of the last summit of the BRICS countries.
This is the second time that the Egyptian president has taken part in the BRICS summit, after his participation in 2017, at the invitation of the Chinese president as well.
What does Egypt profit from?
For his part, the Egyptian economist, Ali Al-Idrisi, indicates in exclusive statements to the site “Sky News Arabia Economy” that Egypt has been eagerly waiting to join the BRICS group for years, because it had previously submitted an application informal, before asking it officially recently, specifying the importance of The group includes a number of points, including:
Dealing with a bloc that comprises more than 40% of the world’s population, whether the countries of the group or the countries that deal with it, and produces more than 30% of the goods and services in the world, and contributes to more than 31.5% of the growth rates of the world economy. Joining the BRICS offers a great opportunity to increase trade exchange rates and joint investments between Egypt and member states, as well as the importance of being in the middle of a bloc that protects political and economic interests. of the Egyptian state and adds more cooperation and exchange of experiences. Take advantage of the BRICS trend to trade in local currencies or in currencies other than the US dollar, and this is a part that Cairo needs due to the foreign exchange problem, and thus diversify the basket of foreign currencies. Egypt has become a member of the BRICS Development Bank, and this is a step that confirms the will of the Egyptian state to join the group. Membership reinforces the good political relations that bind Egypt with the rest of the countries of the group, led by Russia, China and India, and this is certainly facilitated by the presence of the latter within the countries of the band. The BRICS also benefit from the presence of Egypt among its members, as it is a gateway to Africa in terms of access and orientation of their goods and services, and exports to the rest of the countries of the continent to benefit from the African market; Leverage Egypt’s location and capabilities.
For his part, the head of the Forum for Strategic and Economic Studies in Cairo, Rashad Abdo, believes in statements to “Sky News Arabia Economy” that the BRICS countries have great economic capacities, which brings Egypt many advantages. economic.
Abdo enumerated these benefits by creating an opportunity to boost Egyptian exports, in a way that eases the pressure on the currencies in the country, improves the movement of trade with the countries of the group, and the openness to joint investments allows to invest in Egypt, in addition to obtaining products and raw materials at low prices.
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