Egyptian
President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi underlined Egypt’s adherence to the principles
and axes of action of the BRICS bloc, and its keenness to enhance cooperation
among its countries in a way that contributes to maximizing its role in
establishing security and stability, increasing global economic growth, and
achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
He made the remarks
during the second session of the BRICS summit.
He said the
expansion of BRICS membership at the beginning of this year reflects the
intention of the bloc countries to enhance multilateral cooperation and uphold
the voice and interests of developing countries at various international and
regional forums.
He affirmed Egypt’s
support for enhancing consultation and coordination among BRICS countries and
intensifying cooperation to confront common international challenges,
especially climate change, access to concessional financing, food security,
mounting rates of poverty and hunger, and the widening digital and knowledge
gap.
He added “Egypt also
stresses the importance of advancing cooperation frameworks in the field of
financial settlements in local currencies, and investing in the comparative
advantages of the bloc’s countries to launch joint economic, investment and
development projects, especially in the fields of agriculture, industry,
digital transformation, and new and renewable energy. This is in addition to
our support for the important role of the BRICS Business Council and the BRICS
Women’s Business Alliance in intensifying cooperation between the private
sector and business owners in the member states, as they are key partners in
efforts to achieve sustainable development.”
The international
developments have shown that the shortcomings of the current international
system are not limited to political and security issues, but extend to economic
and developmental issues as well. Developing countries suffer from the
escalation of the debt problem and the lack of necessary funding to achieve the
Sustainable Development Goals, in addition to the high cost of financing and
borrowing. From this standpoint, Egypt accords priority to taking tangible
steps to ensure that the international community undertakes its role in
providing soft financing to achieve development in developing countries,
through the creation of innovative and effective mechanisms for financing development,
and comprehensive mechanisms to ensure the sustainable management of developing
countries’ debts, Sisi added.
Egypt firmly
believes in the importance of strengthening the multilateral international
system, with the United Nations and its agencies at the core, as the
fundamental pillar for preserving the gains of peace, stability and
development, and the strong guarantee for safeguarding international peace and
security.
Source: The Egyptian
Gazette