Three agreements between member countries of the region and the BRICS bloc are rapidly shrinking US geopolitical influence in Africa and the Middle East. These agreements. which until a few years ago would have been unthinkable, show that the Americans are beginning to retreat from key regions of the world. Egypt has ratified its application to join the BRICS Development Bank, Algeria has formally applied to join the BRICS, and Saudi Arabia has welcomed China's President Xi Jinping as its new Ruler, announcing a "strategic partnership" with Beijing, adopting the yuan in oil and gas transactions and heading towards the BRICS. All 3 developments are very bad for Washington and Europe. After the United States, Russia, Iran and Canada, Algeria is the fifth largest gas producer in the world. With an average production of 982,000 barrels of oil per day, Algeria is also among the top 20 crude oil producers. Sonatrach, Algeria's state-owned oil company, produces, refines, transports and sells petroleum products. It is the largest company not only in Algeria but also on the African continent. For Egypt, which is now literally in the lobby of the BRICS, there are many questions about its attitude in the coming years, and what about Saudi Arabia? Seeing the withdrawal of the US from the Middle East it is turning completely towards China, the largest importer of oil and gas. One only has to take a look: The agreements signed. The size of the delegations of the two countries. And the reception of the Chinese President. The royal family of Saudi Arabia received the President of China at the airport. The reception was nothing like that of Biden where... no one went! CNN anxiously reported that Xi's visit was impressive both in terms of the substance, with agreements signed, and the political message with the grand hospitality from King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, unlike Biden's visit a few months ago. Xi attended two summits. The summit of the leaders of the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries - hydrocarbon-rich countries - and another with the leaders of Arab countries. Among the leaders who have confirmed his participation are Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani, Tunisian President Qais Sayyed, Moroccan Prime Minister Aziz Ahanoush and Lebanese interim Prime Minister Najib Mikati. The Chinese president's visit was described by Beijing as "the most important diplomatic activity between China and the Arab world". . **Egypt joins the BRICS Bank.** Egypt ratified a few 24 hours ago its participation in the New Development Bank (NDB) created by Brazil, Russia, India, China, India and South Africa (BRICS) in 2014. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi's cabinet ratified the agreement to join the NDB and Egypt's membership document to this institution, which started operating in 2015 in Shanghai. The NDB finances infrastructure and sustainable development projects in sectors such as energy, transport, water, communications and health. "Since 2016, the Bank has invested in many projects, including $7.2 billion in India alone," Russian media reported, recalling that Egypt expressed interest in becoming a member of the NDB in July. Egyptian Finance Minister Mohamed Maait affirmed his country's enthusiasm for strengthening cooperation with BRICS members, especially in light of the "unprecedented development movement" he is witnessing in Cairo. **Algeria has formally applied to join the BRICS.** Meanwhile, Algeria has officially applied to join the BRICS. Foreign Ministry official Leyla Zaruki said that the North African country applied to join the economic bloc. Zaruki said Algeria has arranged all the necessary details needed for membership, without giving further details. On December 5, Algeria's foreign ministry announced the signing of the executive bill for the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative projects and the trilateral plan for cooperation in key sectors with China from 2022 to 2024. "The executive draft outlines the framework of strengthening the overall strategic partnership between Algeria and the People's Republic of China and deepening the historical and qualitative relations between the two friendly countries in various fields," the statement released by the Algerian Foreign Ministry said. Last May, Chinese "Sinopec" Petroleum and Chemical Business and Algerian oil and gas company "Sonatrach" signed a joint oil exploration and production agreement worth 490 million dollars. Algeria needs to harmonize its legislation with the BRICS countries before joining the economic bloc, which could further benefit the country's economy, the governor of the Algerian capital, Mohamed Abdenour Rabehi, told Sputnik on Saturday. "Algeria would definitely like to join the BRICS. The question is whether we will be admitted because there are certain obligations. We need to make some legislative changes," said Rabehee. **"Strategic partnership" between the United Arab Emirates and China.** And we come to the rapid developments with Saudi Arabia. Chinese President Xi Jinping's official visit to Saudi Arabia began with a grand welcome, continued with the signing of bilateral agreements worth tens of billions of dollars, and concluded with a joint declaration by the two parties on cooperation in the areas of international security, energy security and non-interference by each side in the internal affairs of the other. Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Saudi leadership agreed to jointly promote the China-Saudi Arabia comprehensive strategic partnership. According to the Saudi news agency SPA, the agreements signed are worth $29.6 billion for investment of mutual interest, boosting trade and energy cooperation. Saudi and Chinese companies signed 34 investment agreements in the fields of green hydrogen, information technologies, cloud computing, transport and construction, SPA reported. Chinese companies are likely to win contracts in several ongoing projects, most notably NEOM, a futuristic city that will cost $500 billion. Trade between the two countries reached 304 billion Saudi reals in 2021 (76.9 billion euros) and 103 billion Saudi reals (26 billion euros) in the third quarter of 2022. China tops the list of oil buyers from Saudi Arabia and absorbed 25% of the country's crude exports last year. In total from Arab countries last year China bought 200 million metric tons of crude oil last year and these deals will be expanded in the near future. The 4,000-word Xi-Salman joint statement, published in the SPA, stressed that "the two countries agree on the importance of stability in global oil markets". It stressed that Saudi Arabia is a reliable exporter of crude oil to China. It also states the determination of the two sides to "develop cooperation and coordination in the defence fields" and to continue to work together to "combat terrorism and its financing". The statement reaffirms that the two countries "will continue to firmly uphold each other's core interests, support each other in maintaining their sovereignty and territorial integrity, and make joint efforts to uphold the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of states, the norms of international law and the basic principles of international relations". The two sides will cooperate more closely in areas such as energy and national security. The Chinese president also pledged to deepen bilateral industrial cooperation, promote the development of the China-Saudi Arabia Industrial Park (Jizan) and the construction of major infrastructure projects. In addition to bilateral agreements, new multilateral agreements were signed in the framework of the Sino-Arab summit, to which all Arab countries of the Gulf and North Africa were invited. The two sides decided that they should seriously assist China's Belt and Road Initiative and Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030. China - Xi Jinping stressed - firmly supports Saudi Arabia in maintaining its sovereignty, security and stability, and supports Saudi Arabia in pursuing a development path that suits its national conditions, Xi said, adding that China supports Saudi Arabia's major development initiatives, such as Vision 2030 and the Green Initiative for the Middle East, and will actively participate in Saudi Arabia's industrialization and contribute to the diversified development of its economy. China will increase communication and coordination with Saudi Arabia on energy policy, expand the scale of crude oil trade, strengthen cooperation in research and development, and implement the Sino-Saudi Gulei Ethylene Complex Project and other large-scale energy cooperation projects, Xi Jinping said. For his part, Crown Prince and heir to the throne Mohammed bin Salman assured that Saudi Arabia "strongly supports the principle of 'one China'", safeguarding Chinese sovereignty, security and territorial integrity, and that it strongly supports China's measures and efforts to de-radicalize, "strongly rejecting interference in China's internal affairs by any external powers on the grounds of human rights or any other". Saudi Arabia will continue to actively participate in cooperation with China under the Belt and Road project and expand trade and two-way investment. The two countries agreed to build major infrastructure and energy projects and enhance cooperation in areas such as automotive, science and technology, chemicals and mining. **Final blow to the US: Saudi Arabia abandons the dollar - Shift to the Yuan.** Beijing is keen to promote yuan-based oil and gas trade deals with Persian Gulf countries (GCC). President Xi Jinping told Gulf Arab leaders on Friday that China would work to buy oil and gas in yuan, a move that would support Beijing's goal of establishing its currency internationally and weakening the US dollar's grip on global trade. Any move by Saudi Arabia to reduce its use of the dollar in oil trade would be a seismic political move. At the start of Friday's talks, Prince Mohammed heralded a "historic new phase of relations with China," a stark contrast to the awkward US-Saudi meetings five months ago when President Joe Biden attended a smaller Arab summit in Riyadh. Xi said Beijing would continue to import large amounts of oil from Gulf Arab countries and expand imports of liquefied natural gas. China will "fully use the Shanghai Oil and Gas National Exchange as a platform to handle yuan-denominated payment settlement," he said. https://warnews247.gr/oi-amerikanoi-teleionoun-apo-afriki-m-anatoli-i-aigyptos-bike-stin-trapeza-ton-brics-i-s-aravia-anakoinose-stratigiki-etairiki-schesi-me-kina-yiothetei-to-gouan/