About

BRICS is an acronym for five leading emerging economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

BRICS accounted for about 30 percent of the global GDP. The total BRICS population is 43 percent of the entire global population, and the five countries cover 26 percent of the planet's land.

The BRICS bloc was established in 2011. The BRICS Forum is an independent international organization that works to encourage trade, political and cultural cooperation among its member states. The BRICS countries have adopted many initiatives to support cooperation among themselves in various fields, including the establishment of a development bank with a capital of $100 billion to finance development projects in member states.

China actively supports the start of BRICS expansion process and broaden "BRICS Plus" cooperation.  A BRICS Plus virtual conference was held as part of the main meeting with ministers from countries, including the Egypt, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, Argentina, Nigeria, Senegal, and Thailand.

New Development Bank

The New Development Bank (NDB), formally referred to as the BRICS Development Bank, is a multilateral development bank operated by the five BRICS states. The bank's primary focus of lending will be infrastructure projects.

The bank was established in 2015 with a capital of 50 billion US dollars, of which 20 percent is paid, which is equivalent to 10 billion US dollars, by the countries of the BRICS grouping that includes the major emerging economies, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

 The bank is headquartered in Shanghai, China, and the role and representation of this bank reflects the priorities of emerging and developing countries. The capital will be increased by the new members by about $50 billion, bringing the total subscribed capital to $1 billion.

With regard to environmental, social and procurement standards, the New Development Bank uses national standards for the countries of operation only, and the Bank focuses on implementing projects related to the national development priorities of the member countries. This is expected to change with the gradual expansion of membership and the desire of the New Development Bank management and members of the Board of Directors to adopt more strategies international

 Since 2022, the New Development Bank's portfolio included 80 projects, with a total value of $30 billion. Membership in the New Development Bank is still limited to BRICS countries, as the Bank followed a slow approach in the process of expanding its membership due to the different opinions among member states about How to manage the expansion process.

Egypt joins BRICS

The New Development Bank agreed to accept Egypt as a new member, and this was announced during the BRICS leaders summit meetings in December 2021, after a round of successful formal negotiations conducted by the Board of Directors of the New Development Bank with potential members in late 2020. Egypt was approved as the fourth member The new, as its membership was accepted within the first expansion of the bank’s global reach, and it was preceded, since September 2021, by Bangladesh, the United Arab Emirates and Uruguay.

Egypt obtained the approval of the member states, after long negotiations, to determine the size of Egypt's contribution to the bank's capital, and the terms and conditions associated with it.

On January 23, 2023, the House of Representatives approved the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt’s decision No. 628 of 2022 regarding an agreement that allows Egypt to officially join the new Development Bank to be set up by the BRICS economic group.

The value of Egypt's contribution to the bank

The bank's management agreed that the value of the Egyptian contribution is estimated at US$ 1.196 billion, of which 20% is paid, for a total amount of US$ 239.2 million.

According to the parliamentary report, the payment is made in seven annual instalments according to a payment schedule established by the bank. Egypt's current contribution is the highest contribution value that can be granted to a country that is not a bank's founder, and represents about 2.1% of the bank's voting power.

Benefits of Egypt's joining BRICS's New Development Bank

Egypt's decision to join the BRICS group helps directly to benefiting from the experiences of the participating countries in increasing industrialization and production rates.

The agreement to establish the BRICS Development Bank allows Egypt to strengthen the trade exchange agreement with 68 countries dealing with the BRICS group, thus creating a common market to promote Egyptian goods and products.

Egypt will benefit from the areas that fall within the various activities of the bank, including supporting sustainable development and enhancing regional cooperation and integration by investing mainly in the field of infrastructure.

Egypt's participation in the BRICS summit

Egypt is keen to participate in the activities of the strategic dialogue on the development of emerging markets and developing countries, held at the presidential level on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit. Egypt participated as a guest in the BRICS Summit that was hosted by China in  Xiamen, Fujian province,  during September 2017 under the slogan (BRICS: a stronger partnership for brighter future).  The Chinese President XI Jinping invitation to President Sisi to participate in the summit comes as a reaffirmation of Egypt's position and its economic, political and commercial  status that qualifies it to become a member of the BRICS.