The future growth of global trade is east of Suez. The trade in that region can get along quite well trading oil for gold and yuan for goods.
The gold is intermediate to the secondary trade in goods flowing in the other direction
There are great problems with using gold because no one wants to show it and no one wants to move it.
I know the types of people from that region quite well. They are a colossal waste of time. Trust me, you can do better in 10,000 other things than dealing with those idiots and their gold talk.
There is nothing east of Suez that is needed for essentials. Unless you are talking about opium derivatives which are worth more than gold, there is nothing there to consider.