Cairo: Egypt is looking forward to joining a China-led robust bloc amid growing links between the two countries. Egyptian President Abdul Fattah Al Sisi is currently in China after receiving an invition to attend an annual summit of the Brics, a bloc comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
The five big emerging economies make up around 22 per cent of the gross world product and represent nearly half of the globe’s population.
The grouping, which meets annually since 2009, is aimed at providing an alternative to a world order dominated by the West.
Since taking office in 2014, Al Sisi has shown interest in strengthening ties with China.
Egypt and China announced a strategic partnership in 2014. Al Sisi previously visited China twice: in December 2014 and September 2015. Chinese President Xi Jiping visited Cairo in January 2016.
Value of trade between Egypt and the Brics countries hit $20 billion (Dh73.5 billion) last year, according to Egyptian official figures. Egyptian-Chinese trade accounted for $11.3 billion that year.
Al Sisi is expected to showcase Egypt’s political and economic prowess at the Brics summit in Xiamen.
The Egyptian leader Monday told a Brics business forum that his country’s ongoing war against terrorism has not distracted it from seeking to revitalise its economy battered by years of unrest.
“Over the past period, we have adopted a set of radical economic reforms that has resulted in an improvement in the overall performance of the Egyptian economy,” Al Sisi said.
In July, Egypt’s economic growth reached 4.3 per cent, while its foreign currency reserves rose to 36 billion dollars, reversing a crunch in the previous months, he added.
Last year, Egypt floated its local pound currency and cut state subsidies on fuel, measures that secured the country a loan of $13 billion (Dh48 billion) over three years from the International Monetary Fund to heal the ailing economy.
The Egyptian government has not officially said it will apply for admission into the Brics. However, a state-run agency this week hinted at such a move.
The State Information Service, an agency linked to the Egyptian presidency, said that Egypt is among the countries most qualified for the Brics membership.
“Egypt represents an important addition to the group at the political, strategic and geographic levels,” the service said in a report.
Over the past three years, Egypt has re-established political stability, security and its economic reform has started to bear fruit, according to the report.
“Brics has been established among countries with promising economies and Egypt is one of the countries to which this description applies,” it added.
The Brics leaders are expected to discuss at the Ximanen gathering a plan to enlarge their grouping.
Al Sisi, an ex-army chief, has been able to regain political and economic stability to Egypt that was hit by turbulence following a 2011 uprising, which forced long-time president Hosni Mubarak to step down.
Al Sisi is also leading a campaign against militant violence that struck the country over the army’s 2013 overthrow of Islamist president Mohammad Mursi following protests against his one-year rule.