Egypt has joined the list of countries that aspire to become BRICS members, Russian Ambassador in Egypt Georgiy Borisenko told Sputnik.
“Egypt is also interested in joining the BRICS and has already indicated this desire in official letters sent to all members of the group,” Borisenko said.
The ambassador added that Moscow supported Cairo’s request and would be satisfied with Egypt becoming a full member of the BRICS.
“For this, the alliance needs to finally approve the rules and procedures for expansion. We hope that this will happen in the near future,” Borisenko stated.
BRICS unites the world’s largest developing economies — Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. A number of other countries intend to join the economic bloc, including Argentina, Iran, Indonesia, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.
Transition to National Currencies in Mutual Trade
Governments in Russia and Egypt are conducting intensive consultations on the transition to national currencies in mutual trade to move away from the US dollar, Borisenko said.
“From the spring of 2022, intensive consultations have been ongoing regarding the transition to national currencies in settlements in mutual trade,” he stressed.
The Russian diplomat added that such a transition “will help to avoid the arbitrariness on the part of Western countries that use their own currencies for geopolitical purposes.”
Moscow proceeds from the fact that it is necessary to move along the path of de-dollarization of foreign trade relations, Borisenko told Sputnik.
Talks on Use of Russia’s Mir Cards
Moscow is actively working with Cairo on the introduction of Russia’s payment system Mir in Egypt, which is equally beneficial for both sides, the Russian diplomat revealed.
“We are actively working with the Egyptian authorities to introduce or use Russia’s Mir payment cards in Egypt,” Borisenko said.
The diplomat added that a great technical preparatory work on the issue had been carried out in 2022, but no final decision had been made yet.
“Nevertheless, Egypt understands that the possibility of using Mir cards here will attract many more Russian tourists,” the ambassador said.
Many countries, including Turkey, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, have stopped accepting Mir after the US Treasury Department said that it would impose sanctions against financial institutions supporting the Mir payment system in September 2022.
