It has been a long time since I heard about BRICS+, and it is good that you created this topic for discussion. I am from the United Arab Emirates and I can say that my country depends on the dollar in one way or another. The local currency is linked to a fixed value of the dollar, and the sale of natural gas is made in dollars, and investments in Ports require that sales be made in dollars.
HB, the Dirham being pegged to the $ doesn't mean anything
There was a troll - Stompix - who kept aggressively jumping on me pointing to that fact, in order to deny the de-dollarization in the Arab Gulf region.
Your country is de-dollarizing
"On 28 March 2023, the
Shanghai Petroleum and Natural Gas Exchange (SHPGX) made history by announcing the first-ever deal on importing 65,000 tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the
UAE, settled in the Chinese yuan currency."
thecradle.co"China's attempts to internationalise the yuan are finding fruit in the Gulf states. These states, particularly the
United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, are strengthening their financial cooperation with China through currency swap agreements, cross-border trade settlement arrangements and digital currency collaboration efforts.
On 28 November 2023, the People’s Bank of China and the
Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates renewed their currency swap agreement worth US$4.89 billion for five years. Both banks also signed a memorandum of understanding to enhance collaboration in digital currency development."
eastasiaforum.org"The key to understanding it all is Chinese President Xi’s recent historic visit to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states to launch, in his words, “a new paradigm of all-dimensional energy cooperation.”
The GCC includes Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, and the
United Arab Emirates.
China is the GCC’s largest trading partner.
During Xi’s visit, he made the following crucial remarks (emphasis mine):
“China will continue to import large quantities of crude oil from GCC countries, expand imports of liquefied natural gas, strengthen cooperation in upstream oil and gas development, engineering services, storage, transportation and refining, and
make full use of the Shanghai Petroleum and National Gas Exchange as a platform to carry out yuan settlement of oil and gas trade.”
internationalman.com........
.......
Of course they are the first steps, but it's clear what's happening
Dubai is a major gold trade hub.
Abu Dhabi too?
+1 for coming from the UAE!