This comes after the Russian ambassador to Cairo, Georgy Borisenko, revealed Egypt’s application to join the “BRICS” group, telling Russian media: “Egypt has applied to join the BRICS group, because one of the initiatives in which BRICS is currently participating is converting trade into currencies.” As alternative as possible, whether it is national or the creation of a common currency, and Egypt is very interested in this matter.
Last March, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi ratified the agreement establishing the New Development Bank of the BRICS bloc and Egypt’s accession document to the bank.
BRICS is awaiting fundamental developments, which will be decided by the upcoming upcoming summit of the group, which is expected to discuss the 19 accession requests, 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 an acronym for 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 most important economic groupings in the world, and the grouping represents about 30 percent of the size of the global economy, 26 percent of the world’s area and 43 percent of the world’s population, and produces more than a third of the world’s grain 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 looking forward since 2017 to joining the BRICS group, as the State Information Service said that this “carries many opportunities and advantages, especially in terms of development, trade and investment.”
In June of last year, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi participated in the high-level dialogue session for global development at the “BRICS” summit, at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, who was the head of the last BRICS summit.
This is the second time that the Egyptian president has participated in the BRICS summit, after his participation in 2017, at the invitation of the Chinese president as well.
What does Egypt benefit from?
In turn, the Egyptian economist, Ali Al-Idrisi, indicates in exclusive statements to the “Sky News Arabia Economy” website that Egypt has been looking forward to joining the BRICS group for years, as it had previously submitted an informal request, before requesting it officially recently, specifying the importance of The group includes a number of points, including:
- Dealing with a bloc that includes more than 40 percent of the world’s population, whether from the countries of the group or countries that deal with it, and produces more than 30 percent of goods and services in the world, and contributes to more than 31.5 percent of the growth rates of the global economy.
- Joining the BRICS holds a great opportunity to increase the rates of trade exchange and joint investments between Egypt and the member states, as well as the importance of being in the midst of a bloc that protects the political and economic interests of the Egyptian state and adds more cooperation and exchange of experiences.
- Taking advantage of the BRICS trend to deal in local currencies or currencies other than the US dollar, and this is a part that Cairo needs due to the problem of foreign exchange, and thus diversifying the basket of foreign currencies.
- Egypt has become a member of the BRICS Development Bank, and this is a step that confirms the Egyptian state’s determination to join the group.
- The accession enhances 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 this within the countries of the group.
- BRICS also benefits from the presence of Egypt in its membership, as it is a gateway to Africa in terms of access and directing their goods and services, and exports to the rest of the countries of the continent to benefit from the African market; Exploiting Egypt’s geographical location and the capabilities it possesses.
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 capabilities, which brings Egypt many economic advantages.
Abdo enumerated these advantages in creating an opportunity to stimulate Egyptian exports, in a way that relieves pressure on foreign exchange in the country, enhances trade exchange with the countries of the group, and openness to joint investments achieves investment in Egypt, in addition to obtaining products and raw materials at low prices.
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