Egypt would want to increase the role of the national currencies of Russia and Egypt in trade operations and is currently discussing the possibility of this with specialized institutions, Egyptian Financial Minister Mohamed Maait told Sputnik.
"Trading in the Chinese yuan and Russian ruble will be of great importance for Egypt. We have commercial and economic agreements with these countries, and we are currently discussing all these issues with specialized institutions," the minister said.
The diversification of currencies used in trade will result in significant economic profit, the politician added.
"Instead of relying on one or two currencies, there is a bunch of diverse currencies within BRICS which include those of the member states which have become popular all around the world, for instance yuan or the UAE dirham," Maait told Sputnik.
In April, top Russian diplomat Sergey Lavrov said that the United States, along with other Western states, are raising concerns over BRICS potentially establishing its own financial mechanisms. Finance Minister Fernando Haddad of Brazil, Russia's partner within BRICS, said his country was open to the possibility of using national currencies for settlements when trading inside the bloc and was actively discussing it at the moment.