Address by H.E. Ambassador Victor I. Sibilev at Friendly Meeting of BRICS Countries’ Ambassadors, November 29, 2018

Dear colleagues,

I am glad to welcome you today at our traditional BRICS friendly meeting. For the second time just before Christmas, we all meet each other in our capacity as BRICS countries’ Ambassadors and High Commissioners to Botswana in the company of our African friends. “Expanded format” reflects what was happening on the sidelines of the X. BRICS summit in Johannesburg on July 25-27, 2018 which unprecedented in accordance with the number of participants. This allowed association to interact effectively with other countries and international organisations that share the BRICS philosophy.

  Russia highly values the multifaceted cooperation that has developed within BRICS. The process was launched in 2006. What appeared as a club of like-minded countries in the financial and economic sphere, BRICS has evolved into a mature association with a comprehensive complex agenda, including politics and security, economy and finance, cultural and humanitarian exchanges along with institutionalization of strategic partnership. Twelve years of hard efforts have resulted in twelve years of progress. BRICS cooperation has gone to greater depth and substance, yielding fruitful and laudable outcomes.

At the recent Summit, the leaders of the BRICS reaffirmed commitment to strengthen cooperation with Africa and help the continent to address illegal wildlife trade, promote employment, food security, infrastructure developmental initiatives and projects. Moreover, BRICS countries underlined the importance of launching the partnership on the issues of the new industrial revolution and the energy researches, possibility of establishment the BRICS Credit Agency and Bank of Development of Latin America as well as international medicine centre for creation new vaccines. Participants of the forum also agreed to develop cooperation in the sport and cinematography spheres.

We advocate further closer coordination of the BRICS countries’ foreign policies, primarily at the UN and G20. It is necessary to use the WTO as a basis for the promotion of a transparent, equitable, mutually beneficial, multilateral trade system. Only the combined efforts of all countries can help bring about global stability and resist the biased behaviour of the countries seeking to remain their dominance in the world.

All members of the association face the same task to form a fairer polycentric world order. Russia shares the BRICS countries’ concerns over the unfairness of the global financial and economic architecture, which does not give due regard to the growing weight of the emerging economies. BRICS countries also intend to work towards a more balanced distribution of quotas and voting shares within the IMF and the World Bank, and against protectionism and new barriers in global trade.

Dear friends, I sincerely hope that in the next year we will see the cooperation between our countries broaden further for the benefit of our peoples and for peace and stability in the whole world!

Next year the chairmanship will be shifted from South Africa to Brazil. Hence I am glad to give the floor to Her Excellency High Commissioner of South Africa Ms. Rosemary Mashaba.