Egypt highly appreciates the invitation of the country to join BRICS and looks forward to further cooperation, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi said on Thursday.
Earlier in the day, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the BRICS leaders have decided to invite Argentina, Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia, the UAE and Saudi Arabia to join the group on January 1, 2024.
"I value the declaration by the BRICS group to invite Egypt to join its membership as of January 2024. We appreciate the confidence of all BRICS member states with whom we share robust relations. We look forward to cooperating and coordinating with them, and with the other countries invited to join the bloc, to achieve its goals toward strengthening economic cooperation among us and raise the voice of the Global South with regard to the various issues and development challenges we encounter in order to promote the developing countries’ rights and interests," Sisi said in a statement published by the Egyptian Presidency.
BRICS leaders have gathered in Johannesburg, South Africa for 15th BRICS Summit, where they discussed political and economic cooperation, BRICS expansion and de-dollarization.
The issue of membership expansion had been discussed at various levels since the first BRIC Summit in 2009.
In recent years, the BRICS states have been working to deepen their economic and political ties, with the goal being to promote a more multipolar world order.