President Abdel Fattah El Sisi asserted on Thursday the importance of mutual cooperation and respect among countries for their best interests in light of the current international crises and challenges.
He underlined the importance of joining hands of developing countries and cooperation among the South countries to confront these challenge.
He made the remarks on Thursday while addressing the BRICS Plus Summit.
He said Egypt is at the forefront of countries that was keen on promoting cooperation among developing countries.
He highlighted the growing importance of the BRICS bloc, adding that the bloc is keen on intensifying effective consultation and coordination with friendly and influential states for their best interests.
He added that the today’s meeting came at a delicate stage in light of international crises and challenges.
He stressed Egypt’s belief in the importance of closing ranking among developing countries and promoting South-South cooperation as a way to confront current challenges.
Addressing the BRICS Plus Summit, President Sisi said: “I would like, once again, to express my appreciation to Russian 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,” he added.
“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,” the president said.
“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,” he said.
“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,” he added.
“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,” he said.
“This has resulted in an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe and the ongoing expansion of the war,” the president said.
“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,” he added.
“Egypt highly appreciates BRICS Plus grouping as a platform to cultivate closer cooperation and consultations between the BRICS grouping and the Global South,” Sisi added.
“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,” he added.
“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,” Sisi noted.
“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,” he said.
“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 fulfill the aspirations of our peoples for a better future.”
