At BRICS Summit, African Union President emphasizes Need to Strengthen Multilateral Cooperation for Equitable International Security and Development

HE President of the Republic and President of the African Union Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani participated on Thursday in the 16th BRICS Summit, held in Kazan (capital of Tatarstan, east of Moscow), under the theme “Multilateral Cooperation: For Equitable International Security and Development”, under the theme “Multilateral Cooperation: For Equitable International Security and Development”.

In his speech to the BRICS Summit, the President of the Republic expressed his great gratitude and high appreciation for the support provided by BRICS to the African continent, and for the commendable efforts made to achieve a permanent seat for the African Union in the G20.

He emphasized the need to strengthen multilateral cooperation in the service of just international security and development, as development can only be effective and sustainable to the extent that it is comprehensive and based on solid international solidarity and cooperation.

The following is the text of the President’s speech

“His Excellency Mr. President Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, rotating Chairman of BRICS.

– Your Excellencies Heads of State and Government.

– Your Excellencies Heads of Delegations.

– Mr. Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations.

– Ladies and Gentlemen

. At the outset, it gives me great pleasure to thank His Excellency Mr. Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, for the kind invitation to participate in this 16th BRICS session, held under the theme “Multilateral cooperation: for equitable international security and development”, and for the warmth and hospitality extended to us and our accompanying delegation.

I would also like to express here, on my own behalf and on behalf of the African Union, our great gratitude and high appreciation for the support provided by BRICS to the African continent and the commendable efforts made to secure a permanent seat for the African Union in the G20.

Your Excellencies, Highnesses and Highnesses.

Ladies and Gentlemen

Today, the BRICS group is one of the most important platforms for promoting multilateral cooperation, especially among the countries of the Global South.

The gradual expansion of this group, and the varying levels of development in member countries and those seeking membership, reflects the group’s conviction that development and progress are not a privilege reserved for one country but a right of all countries, regardless of their different levels and development contexts. Therefore, all of them must be listened to, and their priorities and basic development needs must be taken into account.

Development can only be effective and sustainable to the extent that it is comprehensive and based on solid international solidarity and cooperation.

This general principle is the basis of our approach in the African Union to the means of achieving the SDGs.

We believe that the slow pace of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and the inability to meet the grave security, economic and environmental challenges facing the world is due in large part to the weak level of multilateral cooperation, the dysfunctional international financial and political governance system, and the apparent lack of regional and international solidarity and synergy of efforts.

Therefore, the world today, especially our African continent, is in dire need of a new dynamic in multilateral cooperation and international solidarity and synergy, which inevitably requires a reformulation of the rules of international governance, both financial and political.

It is difficult for our African countries to exploit their great development opportunities and unleash their enormous potential for development and growth with the persistence of the debt issue, which severely hampers their development efforts, and the existing public development assistance system, which has proven inadequate to achieve its intended goals, as well as the continent’s poor representation in multilateral financial institutions, which does not allow them to ensure that the international agenda takes into account their urgent development needs, especially those related to growth-enhancing infrastructure, technology transfer, strengthening educational systems and new technologies.

In sum, a new development finance pact must be created that is more flexible, sustainable, and guarantees LDCs smooth and equitable access to financing that suits their priorities.

Although a review of the financial governance system is indispensable, it is even more urgent to reformulate the rules of international political governance, as it is where issues of international peace and security are entrusted.

In its current form, the system of international political governance is characterized by many injustices and uneven double standards, often at the expense of the most vulnerable and least developed countries.

This double standard, which objectively implies disregard for universal human values and international resolutions and treaties, explains why, for example, the international community has not exerted the necessary force to stop the brutal massacres we are witnessing in Palestine and Lebanon.

Weak international solidarity and multilateral cooperation also explain some aspects of our inability to eradicate the violence and terrorism that threaten our security and stability and hinder our development efforts in the African continent.

Sustained international stability and security, as called for by the slogan of this summit, requires strict respect for international law and international humanitarian law that translates our universal human values. It also requires the highest levels of international solidarity and multilateral cooperation.

It is therefore incumbent upon all of us to deepen our awareness of the unity of human destiny, and that there is no effective approach to issues of peace and security other than a collective, multidimensional and solidarity-based approach. As we have always emphasized on various occasions, none of us can enjoy sustainable peace except to the extent that others enjoy it.

It is therefore imperative to strengthen multilateral cooperation and international solidarity and to work to reform international political governance to make it more just, balanced, representative of the least developed countries and sensitive to their rights and priorities.

In this context, I would like to renew from this platform the call to grant the African continent a permanent seat on the Security Council, to enable it to make its voice heard and ensure that its priorities are taken into account in international agendas.

We in the African Union are counting on the support of the BRICS group and the global South in general to fulfill this demand.

As I wish the work of this summit every success, I am confident that its results will contribute, with God’s help and strength, to the strengthening of multilateral cooperation in the service of international security and just development.

Thank you and peace be upon you.”