Egypt is expected to discuss promotion of bilateral trade in local currencies with BRICS countries in the upcoming meeting in Kazan, Russia.
The 2024 BRICS summit will be held from Oct 22 to 24, which is the first gathering since the group's expansion in January this year when Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates joined the initial five members of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
After Egypt officially joined BRICS, one of its main targets has been to support members' drive for de-dollarization.
Some in the Egyptian business community have welcomed the move to reduce dependence on the U.S. dollar.
"One of the main obstacles we face in trade is the lack of access to U.S. dollars. Using local currencies will ease the process for us when we trade with other countries," said Ahmed al Zayat, member of Egyptian Businessmen Association.
The central banks of China and Egypt had signed a currency swap agreement totaling 18 billion yuan (about 2.57 billion U.S. dollars). Egypt also inked similar deals with other countries.
"Besides Egypt, many countries are beginning to use local currencies. You can't completely eradicate dollars but they should not be the main currency of trade. In 2022, to reduce dependence on dollars, the Egyptian central bank became the top gold buyer worldwide to replace dollars with gold," said Assem Mansour, head of Market Research Department, EW Markets.
Trade with BRICS members accounts for about a third of Egypt's total trade at over 31 billion U.S. dollars. Currency swap deals are set to foster trade and investment ties even further.
Agreements with China and other BRICS nations are considered by Egypt as the first step of a long term strategy to gradually remove the U.S. dollar from most of its trade transactions worldwide.
Egypt to discuss promotion of bilateral trade in local currencies with BRICS countries
Egypt to discuss promotion of bilateral trade in local currencies with BRICS countries
China has stepped up efforts to optimize the layout of its future industries since the beginning of the year, with breakthroughs accelerating in frontier technologies from advanced robotics to orbiting data centers.
In 2026, a series of landmark projects have taken shape across the country. In Beijing, preparations are underway for the country's first space computing innovation center. The areas of research at the center will aim to gradually relocate ground-based data centers to outer space to enable data collection, processing and output in orbit. China has also issued plans to accelerate the development and improvement of the space computing industrial ecosystem this year.
In Shanghai, the world's first pilot platform for humanoid robot components is taking shape. By establishing small-scale trial production lines for five categories of components, including reducers, the platform offers 72 testing and verification services, significantly lowering the development threshold for humanoid robots.
Since the beginning of 2026, China has launched over 100 innovation and research tasks for future industries through its open competition mechanism, focusing on general artificial intelligence, quantum technology, atomic-level manufacturing and clean low-carbon hydrogen energy. Key areas of application have been identified, while manufacturing innovation centers and pilot platforms in priority fields have been established to speed up the translation of cutting-edge technologies from laboratories to production lines.
The momentum is also evident in the clean energy sector. In north China's Shanxi Province, hydrogen-powered shared bicycles have hit urban streets, while more than 15,000 hydrogen heavy-duty trucks operate on logistics routes. Local authorities are also planning several cross-provincial hydrogen logistics corridors.
To sustain this growth, China will implement tiered nurturing for unicorn enterprises and specialized, sophisticated small and medium-sized enterprises in key sectors this year. The country will also advance the development of future industry pilot zones based on local industrial strengths. To date, some 54,000 innovative businesses nationwide have settled into the country's 193 innovative industrial clusters.
China accelerates layout of future industries in 2026
