Egypt’s Minister of Supply and Internal Trade Sherif Farouk stated that Russia has never failed to honor any of its commitments to supply wheat to Egypt even despite current global turmoil.
During a Monday press conference Farouk explained that Cairo seeks to diversify its wheat imports from within the Russian state, whether from the private or public sector.
“We salute Russia. Its commitment has been at the highest level during the past period. Diversification in sources may be from within the Russian state itself, whether through producers in the private sector or the government sector,” Farouk explained.
Regarding the exchange of local currencies between Egypt and Russia, especially after Cairo joined the BRICS group, the Egyptian minister said that the matter is being worked on by the relevant authorities, especially the Finance Ministry.
He added that transactions are currently taking place in the old way, stating that “We hope that this will be implemented quickly.”
Russian wheat is preferred by the Egyptian people, he said, due to its high quality, and so there is no desire to change the supplier.
However, Cairo always seeks to obtain the best services, whether from inside or outside Russia, the minister added.
Egypt is looking for advantages in purchasing wheat, he explained, such as longer payment schedules, competitive prices, or speed of implementation and moving some ships according to the country’s needs at different times.
According to Farouk, the country’s current wheat stock is sufficient for more than six months.
Russia has supplied Egypt with a huge amount of wheat over the past months despite US and European sanctions, alongside other obstacles that have tried to obstruct Russia’s exports of grain, energy and other vital products to the world.
Russia is fulfilling its commitment to supply wheat to African countries and other countries, despite western sanctions that have caused a major food crisis in the needy countries within the African continent, which Russia has pledged to supply with wheat and fertilizer for free.
