Prepared by Dr. Ahmed Moustafa
Director of Asia Center for Studies and Translation
Date and Venue:
The first session of “Egypt and BRICS: What’s Next Forum” was held at the headquarters of the Egyptian-Chinese Friendship Association in Garden City, Cairo, on the previously scheduled date of Saturday, August 10, 2024.
Idea :
The idea arose between Ambassador Ali El Hefny, Vice Chairman of the Egyptian-Chinese Friendship Society, and Dr. Ahmed Mostafa, President of the Asia Center for Studies and Translation, because there is currently no similar initiative within Egypt to develop cooperation between Egypt and BRICS, and to invite qualified specialists to understand the challenges that may hinder this cooperation, identify opportunities for cooperation and integration, and simulate how Egypt thinks and how BRICS thinks about Egypt.
Objective :
To activate greater cooperation and integration between Egypt on the one hand, which has recently joined the BRICS Plus group, which currently includes 9 countries in addition to the five founding members, and also to better understand how the BRICS countries, which include two superpowers (Russia and China), think and how to benefit from the emergence of the powers of the East and the Global South as an equivalent and balanced element to the West in this regard. Developing future scenarios for cooperation between Egypt and BRICS. In addition to presenting integrated visions to the Egyptian decision maker in this regard through these seminars and forums and through a national perspective.
Moderation of the session :
The session was moderated and opened by H.E. Ambassador Aly Elhefny in a roundtable style and according to the order he set in advance for the speakers, each according to his specialization and without detracting from any of the attendees. We were supposed to be joined online by a number of guests from China, including Dr. Deng Long, Professor of International Relations at the University of International Relations in Shanghai, to talk about Egypt and BRICS cooperation and its relationship to resolving the conflict in the Middle East, but there was a technical problem, however he thankfully sent a summary of his participation.
The interventions that focused on the two aspects of challenges and possible opportunities varied between strategy and politics, miscellaneous BRICS, BRICS and achieving sustainable development goals through the regions and municipalities of BRICS countries, the importance of both Egypt and China, the BRICS and energy file, art and the cultural and artistic scene between BRICS and Egypt, media challenges in the new BRICS countries and raising awareness, the role of BRICS in rebalancing power globally and the role of civil society in developing relations between its countries, and finally the future of financial and monetary relations between BRICS countries through the digitization of the economy and business incubators. 
Speakers’ keypoints:
The insights ranged from purely political to economic insights, as well as political economy insights, because each expert in the audience had a different perspective, and this was the secret of the strength of this forum, as the guests were carefully selected. Some see BRICS as an economic grouping, while others see BRICS as a political alliance to counterbalance the West and its current brutality and neoliberalism – the audience also ranged between representatives of the two largest BRICS countries, China and Russia.
His Excellency Ambassador Aly Elhefny (former Egyptian Ambassador to Beijing) spoke about Egypt’s role and significance thereof in the Global South, the importance of regional and international collective action to face any challenges facing countries, that Egypt has become one of the most important Eastern Mediterranean hubs for natural gas, and that Egypt’s access into BRICS gave added value to the group, whereas international reports indicate that the Egyptian economic situation can improve despite the existing challenges, and that Egypt has a balanced role with major countries to stabilize the regional and international order, and that Egypt can participate in decision-making within BRICS Plus.
Dr. Mohamed Salman Taya a political science professor at Cairo University, one of the highly caliber specialists in “aquatic policy” at the regional level and a candidate for the deanship of the School of Political Science – focused on the political and strategic aspects in his field of specialization and elaborated on the political advantages of joining the group, such as alliances with two superpowers Russia and China, which gives Egypt flexibility in diversifying its relations with world powers. This also gives us the space to have special and strategic relations with other powers such as France, Germany, Japan and India. The importance of continuing the strategic dialogues between Egypt and the BRICS countries, and trying to use them for our national interests through the use of “political trade-offs” that can benefit Egypt, especially in files such as the “Renaissance Dam” file, for example, and other dams that Ethiopia wants to implement. He also talked about our role in the game of political chess and preparing for this from now on. He also talked about a very important point, the tripartite alliance between the major regional powers (Egypt, Iran and Turkey) that will serve Egypt in other regional and international files.
The brief speech by Dr. Ding Long, a professor of international relations from China and a large public figure who speaks fluent Arabic, focused on the role of BRICS Plus, to which China and Egypt belong, in resolving regional disputes, especially the Palestinian issue and China’s recent efforts to hold several meetings between the Palestinian factions to reconcile them as a pressure card on Israel. BRICS is an effective and influential bloc and has been able to extend its political influence to resolve major issues to maintain international peace and security and promote development programs globally. One of China’s most important successful mediations was last year’s mediation between Iran and Saudi Arabia. It has proposed the establishment of a Middle East committee within BRICS. BRICS initiatives to resolve Middle East conflicts and bilateral cooperation and coordination between Egypt and China to finalize Palestinian reconciliation and resume the peace process with Israel.
From Russia, a BOD member of the United Nations Association of Russia UNA-Russia (Ms. Elena Matveyeva) who attended, where we translated her speech from Russian to Arabic, in which she expressed her thanks for the opportunity to attend our forum upon the recommendation of the Director of Russian Trade Office in Cairo, Mr. Aleksei Tevanyan, as a representative of Russia and spoke about this organization, which is concerned with Russian municipalities and regions, and how it contributed to the development of Russian regions and municipalities in line with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It is an experience that Russia can share with other BRICS countries to develop their regions in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. She also spoke about the experience of the Samara State Medical University and its use of modern digital standards and artificial intelligence to reach the highest level of medical services, an experience that can be generalized in other BRICS countries, including Egypt. She stressed the possibility of partnership with the Egyptian side in cultural aspects and in the field of energy and can become mutually beneficial for both parties – she also noted that at the end of this month, the organization, in cooperation with the Moscow State Institute for International Relations (MGIMO), will hold a major international forum on sustainable development for BRICS countries municipals. 
One of the strongest interventions was the speech of Ambassador Dr. Magdy Amer, who worked as a diplomat to China for 8 years, who was inclined that BRICS is mainly an economic group because both China and India, in his view, tend to economic aspects and economic cooperation more than strategic and political, and that it serves humanitarian and cultural aspects as well. He admitted that since 2005 Egypt was offered membership in BRICS, but the political will and decision-makers refused to do so due to US-Western pressure. However, Egypt participated in important events, including the establishment of the BRICS Bank, the Silk Road Fund, the Asian International Infrastructure Bank, BRICS Plus and the BRICS Plus Elite Dialogue. He emphasized that the upcoming BRICS summit in October 2024 will focus on a digital system for payments between BRICS countries, similar to the ASEAN group, or settling paying for these payments in local currencies. 
Dr. Ahmed Kandil, head of the Energy Economics Unit at Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, addressed the possibility of economic partnership in the field of energy as Egypt is one of the most important natural gas producing countries, as well as the progress of China and India in this field in sustainable energy solutions, whether solar energy, wind energy or energy from the generation of green and blue hydrogen, and also the fact that these countries are technologically advanced and have large funding sources dedicated to this field and must be utilized. He also talked about the possibility of localizing the manufacture of electric vehicles. The Egyptian-Russian cooperation with Russia’s Rosatom in establishing the Dabaa nuclear plant and the possibility of transforming Egypt into an African regional energy hub, as there are 800 million Africans who do not have an energy source. Also, he added that about 40% of the world’s coal reserves are within the BRICS countries, as well as rare minerals, and the energy bond system issued by the BRICS Bank can be used in this field as well as in the development of everything related to carbon neutrality.
Then we moved to the soft power file, i.e. culture, with director, actor and TV presenter Mr. Ashraf Sarhan, who spoke scientifically and professionally that we cannot produce cultural content, whether a TV program or a documentary film or similar artistic productions without a prior study, exploration and interrogation of the surrounding reality and the prevailing culture, and what audience to whom the cultural message can be addressed and in what style. It was an excellent opening for someone with academic and professional experience in the field of culture – He added that culture and media are complementary elements and that one of the most important messages of culture and media is to change the prevailing stereotypes. He said that this year 2024 in Russia, the head of the BRICS session this year, there are about 500 cultural events about BRICS, including festivals, art and music concerts and drawing competitions are taking place, and called for increasing the number of Russian and Chinese schools in Egypt because it is a good tool to learn about these two countries, and that despite Egypt’s membership in this great gathering, societies and people are still far from each other and culture is what brings people closer, and at the end of his speech, he stressed despite Egypt’s membership in this large grouping, societies and peoples are still far from each other and that culture is what brings people together. Finally, he urged the Arabic-speaking Chinese media to deepen the media message directed to the Arab world and not to be superficial, whether from the interviewers or the guests, even if they are Arabs.
The previous vision in culture was integrated with the current vision in the BRICS media and its challenges through Dr. Ayman Moussa, who served as the Egyptian media advisor to Moscow until 2021 and currently works as a media advisor to the presidency regarding Russia and the former Russian Commonwealth countries, who scientifically and practically stressed the message of the media and how to deal with it, especially since we are in a new phase that must be harmonized with realistic hopes in light of a new world order. Therefore, it is necessary to recognize reality with an objective view, and to prepare for it in accordance with this view. Moussa said that Russia, for example, always sends a group of specialists before the visit of presidents and officials to a country to conduct a good survey, and thus two media materials are formed, one issued to the public and the second for decision-makers in Russia. He gave an important example of how the Russian Mir 24 channel was born, which was intended to express and speak for the countries of the Eurasian Union and the former Russian Commonwealth, and that BRICS, for example, enjoys a large share of the Russian media that is addressed to BRICS conversations. He talked about the golden period of media in Egypt when it had specialized radio channels that were issued even in vernacular languages and were broadcast to most African countries, so Egypt was influential in the South. Through BRICS, Russia is open to media events and forums that include all groups of people whether youth, businessmen and diplomats to learn more about the other countries.
Then the time of civil society came, and the best person to talk about it and the human rights file is Mr. Essam Shiha, a member of the Egyptian National Council for Human Rights and a renowned lawyer, who stressed that civil society has been a major pillar since 1989 in all dialogues, as there is a collective and general concept that the system of international and regional action is represented by (States, governments and civil society.) However, the performance of civil society differs from one country to another within the BRICS countries due to the difference in culture and policy-making. Civil society has roles to play, including bringing people together. Shiha believes that through the BRICS umbrella, civil society can play important roles, especially in fostering relationships, trust, and the exchange of experiences and knowledge. He gave an example of the dialogue between Egypt and India represented in the peer-to-peer education program – as well as the promotion of cultural dialogue by the General Authority for Culture Palaces with South Africa to exchange ideas between the two countries – he also stressed the role of civil society in developing human rights policies where there is an issue in this file. He added that civil society organizations have a role in achieving sustainable development and the millennium goals and had a great role in addressing global disasters, including the Corona pandemic in the BRICS group – and its role in supporting rural communities and farmers, such as some associations in Brazil, and that sharing these experiences brings mutual benefit between Egypt and BRICS countries in the future.
Dr. Ahmed Moustafa, President of the Asia Center for Studies and Translation, began his intervention by reminding Dr. Mohamed Salman Taya that they organized the first simulation model of the Russian presidential elections for students of the School of Political Science at Cairo University in March 2018, and that they had a simulation model project for promising new global groups such as BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and the Silk Road. His intervention addressed the role of the digital economy in solving the economic, financial and monetary challenges posed by the above researchers, especially Ambassador Magdy Amer. Moustafa talked about the use of digitization and blockchain technology in solving the crisis of financial and monetary settlements, and what will accelerate the effectiveness of this technology and its effectiveness inside Egypt is to speed up the digitization of the Egyptian pound, similar to the ruble, which was digitized about a year ago. Through this technology, investors and businessmen on both sides will be incentivized to increase trade transactions between Egypt and the BRICS countries, as well as trying to establish a special economic union among the BRICS countries similar to the ASEAN Union and the Eurasian Economic Union, as well as working on creating a common currency among the BRICS countries, which is currently settled on gold to be an alternative for trade transactions among them, and fintech technologies will be of paramount importance, and Mustafa raised the idea of a digital economic news platform for BRICS countries that can be used by investors, traders, researchers and those interested in economic affairs between these BRICS countries.
Special thanks:
We extend special thanks to:
1- Dr. Huda Yassa – President of the Arab Women Investors Union, who honored us with her presence accompanied by Ms. Elena Matveeva, who spoke about the importance of the BRICS countries, and that she is one of the first Egyptian investors who invested inside Russia and in the Tatarstan region specifically, and the grouping represents promising and attractive investment opportunities if they are well used.
2- Mr. Chen Nan – Deputy Head of the Political Section at the Chinese Embassy in Cairo – What caught our attention was his proficiency in Arabic and his talk about China’s interest in Egypt, as well as the success of the BRICS group, and that China cannot lose Egypt in any way. Even in the Renaissance Dam file, China stopped all financial support for the construction of the dam in Ethiopia, as well as all Chinese companies and contractors who worked on this project when it saw that it would affect its relationship with Egypt – this was a timely clarification after what was raised.
3- Former parliamentarian and editor-in-chief of Al-Nahar website and newspaper, Mr. Osama Sharshar – who pointed out the importance of follow-up and integration of vision in important files, including the BRICS file between the concerned parties, embassies, parliaments and decision-makers, because it is not the first time that different visions are made useful to decision-makers, and that Egypt does not need hot money that shackles us with debts, but for hot/innovative ideas that raise our status and that we are tired of the American culture that unfortunately penetrated the roots of some Egyptians, which should be replaced by the cultures of the Eastern BRICS countries that are close to our culture.
4- Dr. Amal Mahmoud – Professor of Public Administration and an international expert in development programs, who raised an important point regarding the use of Egyptian human capital in cooperation with the BRICS countries, which has a great economic and social return on Egypt.
5- Dr. Salwa Thabet – Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Political Science at Future University – who pointed out that the faculty has introduced a new curriculum for BRICS to raise students’ awareness of the importance of these new blocs and the need for student and research exchange between universities of BRICS countries to increase mutual benefit and develop scientific research. 
6- Dr. Ashraf Abo Arafe – Editor-in-Chief of AlDiplomasy website in its Arabic and English versions – who pointed out that Egypt has many cadres who have new and effective ideas and visions that can change the image of Egypt, but unfortunately they are a wasted energy, as evidenced by what was presented in this forum, which reflects the extent of the understanding of young people and Egyptian specialists in the formation of new powers and the new world, unlike other forums that are unfortunately held only for media fame without any benefit.
Finally, as we said at the beginning, this forum is the cornerstone of a series of forums on Egypt and BRICS, which could be held at least once every two months, and on different topics of interest to both Egypt and BRICS, as each issue deserves a full forum to help us achieve a real and thoughtful rapprochement between Egypt and BRICKS.
