Thank you, Your Excellency;
May I first to join previous speakers to express our gratitude to Your Excellency and other Heads of State and Governments of BRICS for convening this 15thSummit.
Our deepest thanks too for the people and Government of South Africa for their renowned hospitality.
This meeting is taking place at a critical time – when our global community is at a veritable crossroads.
The flaws and deficits of the prevailing global governance architecture, whose defining features are dysfunctional, non-inclusive and unfair rules and regulations, are too evident to merit emphasis.
US Exceptionalism- (or PAX AMERICANA) – has unleashed malaises that have gravely impaired global progress for almost a century now.
Bi-polarityushered in after the end of the Second World War, and attempts to impose uni-polarity in its sequel in the past thirty years, have resulted in endless spiral of conflicts and perpetual instability.
Opportunities for global progress; meaningful partnerships between nations and peoples based on inherent communality of interests and aspirations; social harmony within societies that depend on fair access to, and distribution of,the national pie have been squandered.
This, in spite of humankind’s exponential technological progress in the last two centuries; a capability which could have changed the quality of life for all humanity if it were seen – indeed as it should in purely ethical terms – as a common public good.
And at this eleventh hour, the principal advocates and proponents of hegemony are pushing our global village to the brink of unprecedented disaster.
The tendency for unbridled escalation of the War in Ukraine led by the United States and NATO is fraught with consequences that are ghastly to contemplate.
Yet, the US and its allies continue to doggedly pursue this perilous path in a desperate attempt to turn back the clock of history and assert what they term as their “unassailable global superiority and dominance”.
Differences of scale aside, the devastating wars incubated by these policies in Africa, the Middle East and other parts of the world in the past decadeshave, and continue to, incur colossal losses. The situation in Niger is only symptomatic; symptomatic of modern slavery. Imagine bringing back all the uranium that has been going to Europe to electrify this marginalized continent.
Vast literature on, and related Institutions for, Conflict Resolution and the Maintenance of Peace aside, costly wars unleashed directly or through proxies, find no solutions in the majority of cases and are instead compounded by deliberate subterfuges. Peace-Keeping forces, humanitarian assistance etc. are mere palliatives to project semblance of serious concern.
Most of the times, the institutions and conceptual pillars of global governance, the cogent principles enshrined in the UN Charter, are circumvented and supplanted by illegal frameworks and approaches. Grave issues of international peace are not addressed by, and referred to, legitimate international bodies for adjudication. Alliances and power blocks; Coalitions of the Willing are the preferred tools in order to breach international law.
Illegal and unilateral sanctions; weaponization of US dominated financial, economic and judicial institutions; as well as other punitive instruments in their toolbox are routinely invoked to punish those who do not toe the line.
These suffocating and malicious policies are embellished by high-sounding phrases in order to claim the moral high ground. They are also propagated extensively through their wide and subservient media outlets
But for all their efforts, these misguided and reckless policies have and continue to engender robust and growing popular resistance in all corners of the world.
The tiny few aside, the lofty aspirations of humanity as a whole is for a just and fair global order where justice and the rule of law prevail; where nations and peoples forge meaningful and symmetric ties of cooperation and partnership on the basis of respect for national independence and sovereignty; for societies anchored on compassion and social justice.
These amorphous movements will require higher coordination in the critical years. BRICS, and other international organizations and platforms that broadly share these values and aspirations, must shoulder the responsibility of better articulating and mapping out concrete objectives and strategies.
The judicious approach will certainly involve a basket of concrete and consensual instruments that can rollback and substainably dent the most vicious measures in their tool box of repression.
In this respect, the measures of de-dollarization already on the offing with varying pace and through different alternative frameworks, could be supplemented by continuous consensus building and joint action in appropriate international forums to prevent conflicts.
Mechanisms can be worked out to expedite fair and comprehensive resolutions when and if they erupt. Similarly, the opportunities for coordinated and effective action may be explored to rectify systemic weaponization of judicial and other instruments that they have developed for ulterior ends and that are not in consonance with international law and the Charter of the United Nations
I thank you
