The BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) bloc has invited Egypt to join given that its membership is valid starting from January 1, 2024.
The announcement was made by President Cyril Ramphosa of South Africa at a session of the 15th BRICS Summit held on Thursday. BRICS has also extended the invite to some other countries including UAE, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Iran, and Ethiopia.
According to the Spokesperson for the Presidency, Ahmed Fahmy, the President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi hailed the announcement.
“We are proud of the confidence of all the countries of the bloc, with which we share close relations. We look forward to cooperating with them in the coming period, alongside the countries invited to join, in order to achieve the bloc’s goals of strengthening economic cooperation amongst its members, and working to raise the voice of the countries of the south on the various developmental issues and challenges we face,” Fahmy stated.
According to finance and investment Professor Hisham Ibrahim, the bloc’s trade and economic relations will help Egypt overcome the several issues it has recently been struggling with. These include Egypt’s conflict with international money, particularly the US dollar.
Ibrahim claimed that Egypt’s membership in BRICS allows it the chance to conduct business with important nations like China, India, Russia, and Brazil using their respective national currencies in a phone interview with the Cairo News Channel.
Ibrahim pointed out that Egypt’s decision to join the BRICS is a result of its ongoing hunt for alternatives to the US dollar, a problem that many other nations also face. He continued by saying that the 15th BRICS meeting will assist in erasing any barriers existing between member nations, making economic cooperation the sole and most crucial route.
The BRICS is a substantial economic bloc that other countries aspire to join. It is made up of five significant developed economies. The shared currency proposal was one of the main themes discussed at the 15th BRICS Summit as the BRICS bloc aims to lessen the dominance of the dollar in international trade payments. To build a uniform payment system, BRICS countries suggest increasing the usage of local currencies in intra-trade.
UAE, Egypt, Algeria, Argentina, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Ethiopia, Honduras, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Morocco, Nigeria, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Thailand, Venezuela, and Vietnam are among the nations that have so far formally applied to join the BRICS.
According to a senior diplomatic official quoted in the “Daily Maverick” newspaper on Wednesday, the BRICS presidents will announce a list of about five nations that will join the group, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The publication pointed out that Saudi Arabia is a member of OPEC and the second-largest oil producer in the Middle East, while Egypt is a member of the BRICS Development Bank.