President El-Sisi’s Speech at BRICS Plus Summit

alhadath – cairo

“In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful”

Your Excellency, President Vladimir Putin,
President of the Russian Federation,

Your Majesties and Excellencies,
Heads of State and Government,

Honorable Attendees,
I would like, once again, to express my appreciation to His Excellency, President Vladimir Putin, for his invitation to today’s meeting, which convenes under the expanded BRICS Plus format.
I also extend a warm welcome to the heads of state and government attending today’s meeting, which underscores the growing significance of the BRICS grouping, a partnership founded on the principles of cooperation and mutual respect among the states. This gathering also emphasizes the bloc’s dedication to fostering closer and more productive consultations and coordination with friendly and influential nations, beyond our group, to collectively advance our shared goals.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Our gathering today comes amid a precarious global landscape, characterized by intricate crises and challenges, witnessing a serious threat to the integrity and credibility of the multilateral international order and plagued by protectionism and unilateral policies. Amidst this prevailing fragmentation, Egypt advocates for the urgent need for solidarity among developing nations and the vital importance of forging closer South-South cooperation, as a key strategy to address the ongoing challenges. Egypt has consistently played a leading role in invigorating cooperation among developing countries, and has worked diligently to advance the interests and priorities of the Global South across various international arenas.
When addressing global challenges and crises, the current crisis in the Middle East, fueled by Israel’s persistent war, must be an essential aspect of any related discussion. Israel’s war has been raging for over a year against the besieged Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, who have been enduring unspeakable forms of killing and terror. This, coupled with the expansion of the Israeli aggression into Lebanese territories, is a stark testament to the abandonment of and disregard for principles, the prevalence of double standards and the lack of accountability and justice, in our world and international system today, in the face of violations of international covenants and humanitarian law. This has resulted in an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe and the ongoing expansion of the war. These developments demonstrate the imperative need for concerted international efforts to end the outrageous escalation in the region and prevent a slide into a full-scale war, particularly in light of the expansion of the conflicts into other countries in the region, their negative impact on maritime traffic in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, and the disruption of international trade and the global supply chain.

Your Majesties and Excellencies,
Egypt highly appreciates BRICS Plus grouping as a platform to cultivate closer cooperation and consultations between the BRICS grouping and the Global South. In this regard, I would like to highlight the following points:
First:
It is crucial to leverage multilateral development banks to provide developing nations with greater access to concessional financing, notably climate finance. In this regard, we shall underscore the key role of the “New Development Bank” (NDB) and the “Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank” (AIIB) in offering the crucial concessional financing to enable developing countries to undertake development projects in multiple sectors.
Second:
We need to take full advantage the BRICS Plus meetings to boost South-South cooperation, promote knowledge sharing in an array of domains and implement mutually-beneficial joint projects. Here, I would like to reaffirm Egypt’s full dedication to fostering partnerships and initiatives aimed at enhancing technical cooperation and capacity-building projects with interested countries, and remains committed to sustaining these efforts.
Third:
It is imperative to maintain cooperation and consultations among developing nations to safeguard the effectiveness of the multilateral international system and to collectively oppose endeavors to impose unilateral policies that are detrimental to the interests of our nations.
Ladies and gentlemen,
At the conclusion, I would like to reiterate Egypt’s full commitment to promoting joint action and collaboration among BRICS Plus member states and the Global South to achieve our shared objectives and fulfil the aspirations of our peoples for a better future.
Thank you