By Manal Abdel Fattah
The Russian Embassy in Cairo said that Egypt’s membership in the BRICS group will help ensure Egyptian food security by continuing to strengthen relations with major crop exporters, including Russia.
The embassy added in a statement that Egypt’s joining the group, as a major importer of wheat alongside China, will lead to achieving a balance between the volume of grain consumption and production within the BRICS.
She added that balancing the trade balance within the BRICS group will make it profitable to conclude deals and conduct transactions in national currencies, which is one of the priorities of the current Russian presidency in BRICS, and will lay the foundation for the establishment of the internal BRICS exchange, which will open the opportunity to influence global prices.
She added that, therefore, in the future, it will be easier for Egyptian friends to buy agricultural products from reliable suppliers, such as Russia, at a reasonable cost without being linked to the US dollar and without regard to the financial and logistical mechanisms controlled by the West.
Today, Egypt officially joined the BRICS group of countries, which includes 11 major countries, led by Russia, China, India, Brazil, and South Africa, and accounts for 25% of the world’s exports.
After expansion, the group’s population will reach about 3.5 billion people, or about 45 percent of the world’s population, and the value of its combined economies will reach more than $28.5 trillion, or about 28 percent of the global economy.
The BRICS countries will also produce about 44 percent of the world’s crude oil. The BRICS group accuses Western countries of dominating important global bodies that lend money to countries, such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. It calls for a “greater voice and representation” for emerging economies.
