On Friday, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah noted that in 2022, there was over $160 billion in bilateral trade between Saudi Arabia and BRICS member states, which made the kingdom the biggest foreign trade partner of the BRICS alliance.

Speaking in the South African city of Cape Town, at a ministerial meeting of Friends of BRICS, Price Faisal noted the kingdom hoped to find ways to further cooperate with the BRICS group to further their collective prosperity.

He said, “The kingdom remains the BRICS group’s largest commercial partner in the Middle East. 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.”

He went on to note the kingdom shares common values with the BRICS countries, such as a belief in the respect for sovereignty as the foundation for relations between nations, as well as non-interference in the affairs of other nations, as well as a belief in the value of adherence to international law.

Made up of the nations of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, the BRICS group includes 40% of the world’s population, and is responsible for nearly one third of the global economy. The latest meeting of the bloc was attended by the foreign ministers of the BRICS countries and 12 countries of the Global South which have indicated they would like to join the bloc.

Presently the group is working on the development of a new currency which is designed to eliminate the need for member states to rely on the dollar for cross-border trade settlement. The bloc has also settled trade obligations between member states using local currencies, all of which has greatly advanced the global move toward de-dollarization in international cross-border trade settlement.

Bloomberg has reported that the BRICS group is set to surpass the G7, the bloc of developed economies, in terms of economic growth, within the next five years.