August 25, 2023
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