Egypt announced yesterday that the country has officially become a member of the New Development Bank (NDB) of the BRICS group of major emerging economies, as reported by RT. This move should be seen in the context of Cairo’s interest in joining the BRICS as a full member. Further, Mediterranean neighbors Turkey and Saudi Arabia had expressed interest in July in joining the BRICS. Last month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that “over a dozen” countries have formally applied to join the BRICS, after the announcement earlier this year that the group had decided to allow new members.
The NDB put out a press release on Nov. 15 stating that Egypt had expressed interest in joining the bank in discussions between NDB President Marcos Troyjo, and Egypt’s Minister of Finance Dr. Mohamed Maait, who met on the sidelines of the COP27 at Sharm El Sheikh. “NDB is honored to forge a strong relationship with Egypt,” said Troyjo. “NDB’s mandate stands in harmony with Egypt’s vision for sustainable development. … I am delighted to take another important step towards launching our full participation in this important institution by signing today the Instrument of Accession to NDB, which will be submitted to Parliament as one of the last-step procedures before Egypt formally joins the Bank as a full member,” remarked Dr. Maait.
