The kingdom’s foreign minister has called for further cooperation with the economic bloc
The total value of bilateral trade between Saudi Arabia and BRICS member states topped $160 billion in 2022, making the kingdom the largest Middle Eastern trade partner of the bloc, Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah said on Friday.
Speaking at a ministerial meeting of Friends of BRICS in the South African city of Cape Town, Prince Faisal also said the kingdom was planning to develop further cooperation with the BRICS group to achieve collective prosperity.
“The kingdom remains the BRICS group’s largest commercial partner in the Middle East,” he said. “The total value of bilateral trade with the countries of the BRICS group increased from $81 billion in 2017 and 128 billion in 2021 and exceeded $160 billion in 2022.”
According to the minister, Saudi Arabia shares basic values with the BRICS countries, believing that relations between countries should be based on the principles of respect for sovereignty, non-interference, and adherence to international law.
The BRICS group, which comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, makes up 40% of the world’s population and almost a third of the global economy. The bloc’s latest meeting was attended by foreign ministers from the BRICS countries and 12 countries of the Global South that expressed a desire to join the bloc.
The group is currently working to develop a new currency to eliminate their reliance on the US dollar in trade. Deals have also been settled in the national currencies of the trading countries. Bloomberg had previously reported that BRICS was set to surpass the G7, the bloc of developed economies, in economic growth over the next five years.
This article was originally published by RT.
