Within this shifting landscape, the group prioritizes the strategic alignment between economic integration, financial independence, and technological sovereignty to drive structural global governance reforms.
At the heart of this expansion sits Egypt, leveraging its unique geostrategic positioning, control over the Suez Canal, and deep-seated institutional ties with both the Arab League and the African Union to serve as a natural logistical gateway linking BRICS initiatives directly to the African continent's broader development frameworks.
In this exclusive interview, Ahram Online spoke with Dr Victoria Panova, head of the BRICS Expert Council in Russia and Russia's W20 Sherpa. Dr Panova discusses how the New Development Bank (NDB) is expanding local-currency financing to help shield import-dependent economies such as Egypt from foreign exchange volatility. She also outlines the long-term plan to align BRICS projects with the African Union's Agenda 2063.
Ahram Online: What is specific about Egypt’s role in the African track? How do its geography and economy help develop cooperation?
Victoria Panova: Following South Africa in 2011, Egypt has significantly strengthened Africa's representation in the grouping, with Cairo playing a cornerstone role in this enhancement.
Egypt acts as a natural logistical and economic bridge between BRICS and Africa. Its strategic importance is largely determined by its control over the Suez Canal, one of the key hubs of global trade and transit.
Moreover, Egypt is actively engaged in continental initiatives, particularly the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the African Union’s Agenda 2063.
In practice, this provides ready-made mechanisms for integrating BRICS projects into the African agenda. This is reflected in major joint projects, such as the El Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant and the planned Russian Industrial Zone in the Suez Canal area.
These projects reinforce Egypt's role as a hub for energy, industry, and logistics while boosting mutual trade. Egypt already accounts for almost a third of Russia's trade turnover with Africa.
AO: How can BRICS and the New Development Bank practically expand local currency trade and soft financing to shield importing members like Egypt from foreign exchange volatility and trade imbalances?
VP: The NDB so far is the only international financial institution composed exclusively of the Global South, or, as we say in Russia, global majority countries, with no Western nations inside. Thus, it plays a pivotal role in offering a different, non-conditional perspective to global infrastructural investment capacity.
While it functions within the limitations of the broader Western-led financial system, the NDB is expected to play a larger role as it achieves broader representation and moves further away from dollar dependence.
This means scaling up local-currency lending: the NDB's 2022–2026 Strategy targets 30 percent of financing in members' national currencies (up from 21–25 percent), reducing currency mismatches for import-dependent members such as Egypt while developing deep local-currency bond programmes in BRICS markets linked to trade flows.
Another necessary step is to operationalize BRICS payment and clearing infrastructure for local-currency trade. Backed by the Kazan Declaration, initiatives such as "BRICS Clear" and independent insurance mechanisms will allow importers to settle trade in BRICS currencies with lower foreign exchange (FX) and compliance risks than dollar-based systems.
One can also target “soft” financing toward import-sensitive sectors and shocks. The NDB’s mix of local currency loans, longer tenors, grace periods, and climate/food security windows, which make up about 40 percent of the portfolio, can stabilize Egypt’s external position across energy, food, and logistics projects, cutting reliance on dollar borrowing during price spikes.
Moreover, integrating NDB operations with BRICS trade platforms, such as grain exchange or regional corridors, to finance storage, transport, and port capacity in local currencies will help importers hedge price risks while expanding bilateral settlements.
AO: How would you assess the role of the Expert Council in Russia’s interaction with BRICS? What do you consider the most important aspect of this work?
VP: The BRICS Expert Council of Russia, launched by order of the Russian government on the initiative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Finance, comprehensively supports Russia’s BRICS engagement.
The council provides in-depth expertise, advises government bodies and business structures, and promotes an accurate global image of BRICS to dismantle surrounding myths.
We serve as the official focal point for BRICS Track Two diplomacy, namely the BRICS Think-Tank Council (BTTC, approved in 2013) and the Civil BRICS Council (CBC, approved in 2024). This forms a dense network of international expertise across all BRICS countries.
We prepare practical recommendations for leaders; landmark initiatives such as the NDB and the BRICS Network University were born directly out of BTTC deliberations.
Another vital area is integrating youth into the BRICS ecosystem through platforms like our annual BRICS International School, which selects top applicants from dozens of countries.
Furthermore, since 2024, we have regularly published monitoring reports based on our Indicator System established in 2020. This provides a data-backed view of progress across finance, trade, sustainable development, education, and technology, allowing BRICS to identify its strengths and weaknesses. The council’s key value lies in translating this analysis into policy input to advance consensual proposals on reforming global financial governance.
AO: How do the council’s platforms (the Academic Forum and the Civil Forum) help convey experts’ voices to leaders?
VP: As the official focal point coordinating Russia’s participation in these events, the council channels expert input into national positions ahead of summits.
The mechanisms operate systematically: thematic sessions held in BRICS countries generate recommendations, which are then coordinated with relevant ministries and reflected in final declarations.
Rather than citing just one example, I point to the macro-structural foundations of the NDB and the Network University, both born inside the BTTC. The council gathers top experts from different fields to provide in-depth analysis on critical agenda items, including the international financial system, global governance reform, and AI developments.
We were also behind innovative ideas like a virtual secretariat, designed to coordinate between members without imposing heavy bureaucratization. Today, we are discussing using new technologies to offer a comprehensive platform that ensures secure communication across the expanded grouping, while building an institutional memory via a BRICS documents repository on our site.
We are also pushing an initiative simultaneously discussed within both the BTTC and the BRICS Business Council: the introduction of a BRICS Travel Card to enhance connectivity between businesses, academia, and other key actors.
AO: How does the council take into account the expansion of BRICS? What challenges have emerged in integrating new member states?
VP: BRICS has grown from five to eleven members, encompassing a massive global ecosystem that includes 10 partner countries as well. According to our 2025–2026 monitoring report, BRICS functions as the “infrastructure of the global majority,” representing nearly 40 percent of global GDP (PPP) and accounting for about 49 percent of global growth over the past five years.
However, this expanded status creates bigger responsibilities and technical difficulties arising from the arithmetic growth of negotiating parties. The expansion creates managerial and economic challenges: an uneven distribution of resources, varying levels of infrastructure maturity, and the need to maintain efficiency as the participant base grows, without losing focus on the core principles of multipolarity and sovereignty.
On track two, we integrated new members promptly and smoothly. We conducted dedicated training seminars to educate newcomers on past history while incorporating them into the current stage of negotiations simultaneously.
The rapid approval of the CBC demonstrated that all members quickly agreed on its creation, proving the immediate institutional importance of this track to new members.
AO: Why is the African track a priority for BRICS? What common goals do countries on the continent have in the association?
VP: The African track is a priority due to shared goals of building an equitable, multipolar world order and advancing sustainable development.
Politically, BRICS supports greater African participation in global governance, including UN Security Council representation, and backs the African Union’s G20 membership. This strengthens the Global South’s collective leverage in reforming international financial and trade systems.
Development‑wise, BRICS aligns with Africa’s strategies, Agenda 2063 and the AfCFTA, and targets long‑term projects in transport, energy, and the digital economy via the NDB, bilateral mechanisms, and BRICS+ formats.
Africa’s population growth, urbanization, and infrastructure needs make it a key area for such cooperation. For BRICS members, collaboration with Africa showcases alternative, non‑colonial partnership models based on mutual benefit and local capacity building.
AO: How can BRICS align its initiatives with African strategies, such as Agenda 2063 of the African Union?
VP: Coordination proceeds along four structural tracks, beginning with political support, where Russia and other BRICS countries formally reaffirm their commitment to Agenda 2063 and its 10‑year implementation plans.
This is closely paired with comprehensive infrastructure planning, ensuring that port‑to‑hinterland corridors, power grids, and digital platforms are designed from the outset to meet the precise objectives of the AfCFTA and other continental priorities.
On the financial front, the NDB and other BRICS mechanisms act as vital “financial bridges” by offering blended financing and operations in national currencies, which systematically reduces dependence on volatile external systems.
Finally, capacity transfer acts as the anchor, utilizing specialized educational programmes, schools, and targeted tracks on AI and digital transformation to make these joint projects completely sustainable and locally driven.
The underlying principle guiding all of these efforts is “African solutions to African problems,” ensuring every project is executed as a genuine partnership rather than an externally imposed initiative.
AO: Based on your recent monitoring report, what urgent data blind spots and real-world risks must member states address across BRICS logistics, supply chains, and financial infrastructure?
VP: Our 2025/2026 monitoring report identifies key data blind spots and structural risks that member states must urgently address. In logistics, there is no unified view of transport corridors; we face insufficient data on bottlenecks at ports and borders, as well as on actual capacity utilization.
In supply chains, the nodes of critical resources, like critical minerals, food, and industrial clusters, have not been fully mapped yet, which increases vulnerability due to reliance on single routes and external sanctions pressure.
In the financial sphere, a dependence on external clearing, payment, and insurance systems persists despite the launch of domestic mechanisms. In the digital economy, there is a distinct lack of interoperable data sets and a common BRICS “data economy” framework that could support logistics platforms and settlements in national currencies.
The solution is to create a unified BRICS data system, enhance transparency in supply chains, accelerate the deployment of an independent financial infrastructure, and develop coordinated risk management mechanisms, including stress tests and minimum reporting requirements. While acknowledging the progress already made, BRICS needs to move much faster in these areas.
AO: How do you define the practical concept of multipolarity today, and what primary structural risks could slow this shift for BRICS?
VP: From the perspective of foundational documents like the Kazan Declaration and the Russia–Africa Summit Declaration, multipolarity represents a fair architecture of international relations in which developing countries participate on an equal footing in shaping global rules. This implies a gradual reform of key institutions like the UN, IMF, World Bank, and WTO to make them truly representative.
The practical dimension of multipolarity is increasingly linked to technological sovereignty. To be an independent actor, a country must develop its own solutions in AI, autonomous systems, and digital platforms, not for the sake of isolation, but to ensure freedom of choice.
Key risks include the concentration of technology in a few dominant centres, the weaponization of the economy as an instrument of pressure, and “closed” standards set without taking the interests of the global majority into account.
Within BRICS, aligning interests can become more complex due to the growing number of participants. However, the initial grouping was never uniform in its thinking either; none of the BRICS nations have ever lost the culture of negotiation, which is a common flaw in Western-dominated platforms.
Transparent mechanisms help address this challenge, such as specialized working groups and clear decision-making rules, alongside the collective ability to leverage diverse approaches to find balanced solutions.
AO: As Russia’s W20 Sherpa with G7 and G20 experience, how would you describe the closed-door negotiations to advance the Global South's agenda?
VP: The atmosphere within the G20 remains pragmatic and issue-focused. Consensus is reached not through rhetorical confrontation, but through clear analytics, well-developed mechanisms, and a demonstrated willingness to engage in practical cooperation.
Russia consistently integrates the priorities of the Global South into G20 discussions, including via technical tracks like the W20 and T20, which serve as “banks of ideas” and platforms for promoting inclusive metrics, governance reforms, and alternative financing models.
Advancing the Global South agenda is no easy task; entrenched interests and practices continue to reproduce a logic akin to neocolonial approaches.
Nevertheless, the consistent work of sequential BRICS presidencies within the G20 has already helped secure a number of structural gains for the Global South. This continuity, coupled with a reliance on concrete tools, forms the foundation for further progress.
AO: Finally, what are the priority goals and strategic milestones for the Expert Council heading into 2027?
VP: The council’s strategy through 2027 is centered on systemic analytics and preparing evidence-based proposals for Russia within the BRICS framework. No less important is the continuous, integrated communication with our colleagues from the BTTC and CBC.
On track two, we manage to look one step further and act a bit braver than the more cautious official track can do, allowing innovative ideas to be presented directly to our governments.
A key tool remains our annual report based on BTTC indicators. Its scope is being expanded to include new members and partner countries, while refining indicators in finance, trade, sustainable development, and education.
Another important focus area is technological sovereignty, with dedicated tracks being established on AI, common standards, and educational projects, including the BRICS International School: New Generation and the development of new teaching materials.
Organizationally, the council will continue to shape Russia’s contribution to the Academic and Civil Forums and strengthen the “government–expert community” dialogue through targeted sessions and roundtables to prepare packages of proposals for upcoming BRICS and G20 summits.
A key milestone is the preparation for the upcoming Russia–Africa Summit: Africa‑focused analytics are being strengthened, BRICS initiatives are being aligned with Agenda 2063 and the AfCFTA, and decision‑makers are being provided with consolidated risk assessments regarding sanctions, logistics, and financial stability.
Short link: