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The leaders met on Sunday as Egypt pressed for faster progress on a trade goal first set during El-Sisi’s state visit to New Delhi in January 2023. Egypt’s presidency said the discussions covered measures to strengthen the strategic partnership, increase commerce and encourage more investment from India in sectors including manufacturing, technology, clean energy and the automotive industry.

El-Sisi stressed the importance of translating the economic relationship into projects and commercial flows capable of taking trade to the $12 billion target. The two sides also reviewed opportunities for companies from India to expand their presence in Egypt, which Cairo has promoted as a production and export base serving markets in Africa, the Middle East and Europe.

Bilateral merchandise trade stood at about $6.5 billion in the 2025-26 financial year, according to figures cited by India’s embassy in Cairo. That leaves the two countries seeking almost to double the current level if they are to reach the objective discussed by their leaders.

Investment formed a central part of the meeting. Egypt highlighted manufacturing, information technology, renewable and clean energy, and vehicle production as areas where it wants to attract additional capital. Cairo has also sought greater participation by overseas companies in the Suez Canal Economic Zone and other industrial centres as it works to raise exports and secure more foreign currency.

Modi and El-Sisi reviewed the broader strategic partnership and discussed cooperation in economic and commercial fields, along with regional and international developments. Their meeting came as New Delhi hosted the September 12-13 BRICS summit under the theme of resilience, innovation, cooperation and sustainability.

Egypt joined BRICS at the start of 2024 and has since used the grouping to widen economic links with major emerging economies. The New Delhi summit brought together an expanded bloc whose agenda included trade, finance, technology, energy, climate issues and greater use of national currencies in cross-border transactions.

The trade push also builds on institutional contacts between Cairo and New Delhi. Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said during BRICS ministerial meetings in May that the two countries wanted to raise bilateral trade to $12 billion over five years and strengthen cooperation in investment, technology and other economic sectors.

El-Sisi and Modi upgraded relations to a strategic partnership in 2023, creating a framework for closer coordination across trade, investment, defence, energy and political consultation. The latest talks focused more narrowly on turning the economic component of that partnership into measurable gains, particularly through private-sector investment and expanded market access.

Egypt has been courting manufacturers as it seeks to increase domestic production and exports, while companies from India already operate in industries including chemicals, textiles, food processing and manufacturing. Cairo’s investment campaign has emphasised projects that can supply the domestic market while using Egypt’s trade agreements and transport links to reach neighbouring regions.

The two leaders also discussed international and regional issues, according to Egypt’s presidency, without announcing a separate bilateral agreement during the meeting. Their talks were among a series of leader-level engagements held around the BRICS gathering as member states sought to advance economic cooperation alongside the summit’s wider diplomatic agenda.

For Egypt, the $12 billion goal provides a benchmark for a relationship that has expanded beyond traditional merchandise trade into investment-led cooperation. For India, stronger commercial ties with Egypt offer access to a major Arab and African market and to production locations close to the Suez Canal, one of the world’s principal shipping routes.

Some local branches of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange have urged lenders to encourage businesses to increase hedging, extending a campaign that has pushed corporate derivatives use to record levels. The guidance targets companies with sizeable foreign-currency receipts or payments as the yuan trades near three-year highs.

The push reflects Beijing’s preference for companies to manage exchange-rate risk through forwards, swaps and options. SAFE has repeatedly promoted what it calls an exchange-rate risk-neutral approach, arguing that companies should focus on their underlying business and use hedging tools to reduce the effect of currency movements on earnings.

Corporate hedging has risen sharply this year. SAFE said enterprises used foreign-exchange derivatives covering 35.3 per cent of their currency transactions in the first half of 2026, up 5.3 percentage points from the full-year level in 2025. The contracted value of derivatives used for exchange-rate risk management reached nearly $1.4 trillion, an increase of about 40 per cent from a year earlier.

The regulator has also broadened access to hedging services. About 130 major domestic and foreign-funded banks can provide foreign-exchange derivatives to companies, while a SAFE database shared with lenders covers about 290,000 foreign-trade enterprises. Authorities have encouraged banks to expand online dealing channels and improve credit and margin arrangements for smaller businesses.

The effort also seeks more balanced corporate behaviour. The latest local instructions add to earlier informal guidance from the central bank and SAFE asking some lenders to lift corporate hedging ratios. Such measures are part of a wider effort to prevent companies from building large unprotected positions after periods when many exporters assumed the yuan would remain weak or move gradually.

That behaviour became more costly as the currency strengthened. The yuan has appreciated this year against the dollar and was trading near a three-and-a-half-year high last week, while global currency markets have been unsettled by changing interest-rate expectations, higher energy prices and geopolitical tensions. Exporters receiving dollars can suffer valuation losses when the yuan rises unless they hedge future receipts.

Beijing has simultaneously tried to avoid an excessive or disorderly rise in the currency. The People’s Bank of China removed a 20 per cent foreign-exchange risk reserve requirement on forward dollar purchases from March 2, lowering the cost of buying dollars forward after a strong yuan rally. The move gave companies and banks more flexibility while signalling that policymakers wanted to discourage one-sided appreciation expectations.

SAFE data show that China’s foreign-exchange market remains supported by large trade and capital flows. Banks recorded a $271.2 billion surplus in foreign-exchange settlement and sales in the first half. The regulator said the ratio measuring companies’ willingness to convert foreign-currency earnings into yuan stood at 65 per cent, while the ratio reflecting demand to purchase foreign currency was 61 per cent.

Foreign-exchange reserves rose to $3.438 trillion at the end of August from $3.419 trillion a month earlier. The yuan gained 0.49 per cent against the dollar during August, while the dollar weakened against a basket of major currencies, contributing to valuation changes in China’s reserve holdings.

Officials have stressed that greater hedging is intended to strengthen corporate resilience rather than direct the yuan toward a particular level. SAFE has said exchange rates are determined by market supply and demand and are difficult to predict, making risk management more important as two-way fluctuations become more common.

The regulator has reduced some transaction costs for smaller companies and encouraged financial institutions to simplify documentation for derivatives. Banks have been asked to use enterprise data to identify firms with foreign-currency exposure and offer products suited to their cash flows rather than promote speculative positions.

DCWA is part of Tech Week Singapore and serves as a key platform for data centre operators, technology providers, and industry stakeholders to exchange insights and explore emerging technologies shaping the future of digital infrastructure.

As demand for digital infrastructure continues to grow, data centre operators face increasing pressure to maintain reliable operations while improving energy efficiency. Azbil applies its expertise in measurement, control, and automation to help optimize building and cooling-system operations in mission-critical environments.

At DCWA, Azbil will highlight its Building Automation solutions and specialized services for mission-critical environments, including an intelligent building management system and the chiller plant digital twin. These solutions leverage advanced technologies to improve energy efficiency, support informed decision-making, and enhance the reliability and resilience of critical infrastructure operations.

Guided by its Purpose, “Expanding Technological Frontiers, Unlocking Human Potential,” Azbil will continue to create new value through its advanced measurement, control, and automation technologies and through co-creation with customers and partners, contributing to more reliable, efficient, and sustainable digital infrastructure.

Event Overview

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* Posted information is accurate as of the date of announcement.

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About Azbil Corporation

Azbil Corporation, formerly known as Yamatake Corporation, is a leading company in building and industrial automation, using its measurement and control technologies to provide customers with high value-added solutions to make their operations more efficient and sustainable. Founded in 1906, the Azbil Group consists of 30 companies and operates in 16 countries, providing cutting-edge solutions and services to meet the diverse needs of its global customers. As of March 31, 2026, Azbil employed about 9,000 people worldwide and generated JPY 298.9 billion in revenue. To learn more about Azbil Corporation and its solutions, please visit Azbil’s website at https://www.azbil.com.

SINGAPORE – Media OutReach Newswire – 14 September 2026 – WRITERS AT WORK, a Singapore English writing and enrichment provider recognised on the SME500 Singapore 2025 list, will introduce updates to its Primary Writing Programme, formerly the Pure Composition Writing Programme, across its seven centres in Singapore from 2 January 2027, as part of a wider curriculum refresh designed to help students sustain focused, independent thinking in an increasingly fast-paced learning environment.

Built for How Students Think Today

WRITERS AT WORK updates its curriculum annually in response to shifts in Singapore’s English examination and education landscape. The 2027 update also responds to how students today process language, sustain focus, and construct ideas, shaped by their environment, technology, and culture. As attention spans shorten in a faster, more visually driven world, the ability to sit with a difficult question and think it through has become more valuable. The renamed Primary Writing Programme reflects this shift, still anchored in composition instruction but built around how students actually develop writing competency today.

Three Updates to the Primary Writing Programme

Three updates anchor the programme. Under Flexible Writing Practice, students complete guided or independent compositions depending on lesson objectives, with the STORYBANKING® method recalibrated to sharpen critical thinking through adjusted pacing and difficulty. This gradual release of support, from guided modelling to independent application, meets students at different levels of readiness: those who need more guidance receive clearer structure, while more confident writers are pushed to transfer their learning independently and make more sophisticated writing choices.

The update also responds to a reality of how students learn today: with model compositions and ready-made phrases widely accessible, that accessibility is not itself the concern. The risk is students learning techniques without learning to think. Primary Writing Programme lessons are designed to keep that thinking process intact and complete within the lesson, so students build the ability to reason through difficult questions themselves, rather than simply recall a technique.

Selected modules also integrate bite-sized situational writing, oral, and listening comprehension practice alongside composition, giving students regular, low-stakes exposure to other examination components while reinforcing skills they have already built. The STORYBANKING® programme has also been expanded with material tied to current experiences and trends, building on rather than replacing existing content.

A Refresh for the Comprehensive English Programme

The Comprehensive English Programme, covering Primary and Secondary levels, is also being updated, with a focus on strengthening students’ ability to analyse questions and organise ideas. Existing scaffolding within the programme is being broken down further to make the thinking process more visible and explicit to students.

“The updates are not a departure from what has worked. They are a deliberate response to how our students engage with the world today,” said Jemmies Siew, Managing Director and Curriculum Director at WRITERS AT WORK. “Our aim is for students to leave each lesson still knowing how to think through a hard question themselves, not just recall a technique.”

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Writers At Work

WRITERS AT WORK is a Singapore English writing and enrichment provider founded in 2012. Its curriculum is built around a structured, results-oriented approach and a proprietary methodology called STORYBANKING®, and has expanded to include writing, comprehension, and oral communication instruction for Primary and Secondary levels across seven centres in Singapore. The company was recognised on the SME500 Singapore 2025 list and has a 14-year track record of students achieving full marks in composition and oral examinations.

The product, unveiled at Global Fintech Fest 2026, combines machine-learning risk assessment, dynamic authentication and protection against eligible fraud chargebacks. PayU said the system evaluates cross-border card payments using transaction and behavioural signals, then determines how much authentication each payment requires.

Low-risk transactions can pass with less friction, while payments assessed as higher risk are routed through stronger authentication checks. The approach is intended to address a persistent problem in online commerce: controls that are too strict can reject legitimate customers, while weaker screening can expose merchants to fraud and chargeback losses.

PayU said merchants using the technology have recorded an improvement of about 4% to 5% in international card payment success rates while reducing fraud exposure. The figures are company data and were not independently audited in the announcement.

One online travel merchant using Fraud Liability Protect achieved a 14% rise in payment success rates and an 83% reduction in its fraud-to-sales ratio, according to PayU. The company did not identify that merchant or disclose the transaction volume, testing period or baseline behind those percentages.

Manas Mishra, chief product officer at PayU and Wibmo, said fraud controls should not undermine payment acceptance as merchants expand across markets. He said the product was designed to distinguish genuine and risky international transactions and to protect businesses against both human-initiated and AI-enabled fraud.

The liability element is significant because chargebacks can transfer the financial cost of disputed card transactions back to merchants. PayU’s own documentation describes a chargeback as a transaction reversal following a successful customer dispute. Under its fraud-liability programme, cases classified as covered fraud can be closed with PayU bearing the chargeback amount, subject to applicable terms and eligibility.

Fraud Liability Protect is integrated with PayU Checkout and is being positioned mainly for small and medium-sized businesses in travel, online travel agencies, airlines, e-commerce, quick commerce and food technology. These sectors can face direct revenue pressure when overseas cards are declined or fraudulent transactions later result in disputes.

Zomato is among the businesses using the service, PayU said. The food delivery platform is applying the system to international card transactions so lower-risk payments can proceed with fewer obstacles while higher-risk transactions remain subject to additional controls.

The product also seeks to reduce so-called false positives, where legitimate purchases are blocked because conventional controls treat them as suspicious. That can be especially costly for merchants serving customers abroad, where differences in card issuance, geography and spending behaviour may raise risk scores even when a transaction is genuine during automated screening.

The launch comes as payment providers increasingly use machine learning to balance fraud prevention with checkout conversion. Card-not-present payments create particular challenges because merchants cannot physically verify the card or cardholder, making transaction data, device information, behaviour patterns and authentication signals more important to risk decisions.

PayU already uses automated risk controls across its payment infrastructure. Its published security material says machine-learning models and real-time monitoring are used to identify potentially fraudulent transactions and abnormal patterns. The new service extends that approach by linking risk scoring directly with variable authentication and an explicit chargeback-protection layer for qualifying international card transactions.

PayU’s international payment gateway supports cards issued overseas and allows merchants to offer multiple currencies, while settlement to participating merchants is made in rupees under its terms. The company also offers 3-D Secure-based controls for international card processing, which are designed to add cardholder authentication when required.

The distinction between authentication and liability remains important. A transaction that passes authentication is not automatically immune from every dispute, and chargeback outcomes depend on card-network rules, reason codes and the conditions attached to the merchant’s payment arrangement. PayU’s documentation requires merchants to respond to chargeback notices within specified deadlines where a dispute requires documentation.

Addressing the BRICS Business Forum in New Delhi, Goyal said greater connectivity between national payment networks, including systems modelled on India’s Unified Payments Interface, could lower friction in cross-border commerce while supporting wider use of members’ own currencies.

His proposals were aligned with the economic agenda carried into the BRICS summit, where leaders backed further work on facilitating trade and investment settlements in local currencies and improving interoperability between payment systems. The approach stops short of creating a common BRICS currency and instead focuses on practical links between existing financial infrastructures.

BRICS leaders encouraged the New Development Bank to expand local-currency financing and diversify its funding base, complementing efforts to make cross-border payments faster, cheaper and safer. Officials have stressed that the objective is not a single currency, but greater use of national currencies where commercially practical and mutually agreed.

Goyal said UPI now handles more than 250 billion transactions annually and is accepted in 11 countries. He urged BRICS economies to explore linking their payment networks, promote trade in each other’s currencies and expand digital commerce alongside cooperation in emerging technologies.

The minister coupled the payments proposal with a call for easier market access. He said BRICS economies should open their markets to one another’s products, including raw materials and critical minerals, while simplifying regulatory procedures and accelerating the clearance of consignments.

Goyal argued that resilient supply chains required two-way trade rather than dependence on one-sided flows. He said non-tariff measures impose higher export costs than tariffs in 88 per cent of countries, making regulatory obstacles and customs delays a central concern for companies seeking to trade across BRICS markets.

The push comes as intra-BRICS commerce has expanded sharply. Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said trade among BRICS countries rose from $84 billion in 2003 to nearly $1.2 trillion in 2024, underscoring both the scale of the bloc’s market and the potential gains from reducing transaction and financing costs.

Agrawal also highlighted the global trade-finance gap, estimated at about $2.5 trillion, and said BRICS should improve access to affordable working capital for exporters. The Jaipur Consensus, agreed by BRICS trade ministers in August, provides a basis for examining a common mechanism to help smaller businesses obtain finance against confirmed orders and reliable payment records.

Trade ministers have also advanced a 2026-2030 action plan on global value chains, including BRICS Connect, business-to-business partnerships, digital trade documentation and possible platforms for strategic supply chains and investment promotion. These measures form part of a broader effort to make trade flows more diversified and less vulnerable to disruption.

Goyal identified agriculture, pharmaceuticals, engineering, electronics, automobiles, auto components and services as sectors with scope for deeper cooperation. He called for closer links between startup ecosystems and urged agri-tech companies to work jointly on solutions for farmers and food security.

Services trade was another priority. Goyal said BRICS members should make it easier for professionals to move across borders and work towards greater recognition of professional qualifications, arguing that services markets needed to become more genuinely accessible.

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, speaking at the same forum, said supply-chain connectivity, trade facilitation and innovation had become central to BRICS cooperation. He also pointed to digital public infrastructure, artificial intelligence, financial technology and advanced manufacturing as areas offering opportunities alongside questions of standards, security and trust.

Russia’s Economic Development Minister Maxim Reshetnikov separately supported stronger alternative payment arrangements, saying the share of Russia’s export settlements conducted in dollars and euros had fallen sharply over the past three years. He also promoted work on a proposed BRICS grain exchange and closer cooperation among special economic zones.