Aleksey Tevanyan, Russia’s trade representative to Egypt, told RIA Novosti in a Dec. 30 interview that trade between the two countries has been soaring, and will exceed $7 billion in 2023. An increasing portion of that trade is being conducted in national currencies, not dollars, and bilateral trade is expected to further jump when Egypt signs a free trade agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union, which is expected shortly. “Earlier this week, members of the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) signed a full-fledged free trade agreement with Iran,” according to RT. Both Egypt and Iran are new members of the BRICS.