ISTANBUL

Russia’s ambassador to Egypt on Wednesday said Cairo applied to join BRICS, a bloc of emerging economies comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

"Egypt has applied to join the BRICS group, because one of the initiatives that BRICS is currently engaged in is the maximum transfer of trade to alternative currencies, whether national or the creation of some kind of joint currency. Egypt is very interested in this," Georgy Borisenko told Russian state news agency TASS.

Borisenko said Egypt has expressed its desire to develop trade and economic cooperation with Russia, saying that a process of building “new mechanisms for mutual settlements in these trade operations” is currently present.

Egyptian officials have not yet commented on Borisenko’s statement.

Egypt has participated in expanded talks within the bloc referred to as "friends of BRICS," which also comprises Argentina, Bangladesh, Gabon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Comoros, Cuba, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia.