Source: Russian MFA
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s answer to media questions at a joint news conference with Foreign Minister of the State of Eritrea Osman Saleh, Massawa, January 26, 2023
Question: The world is currently moving from unipolarity to multi-polarity. What role do you foresee for Africa?
Sergey Lavrov: The establishment of a multi-polar world is an objective and unstoppable process. The collective West – the United States, NATO and the EU, which are fully controlled by Washington – are trying to reverse this process. But these efforts are futile. The closest thing they can count on is a slight slowdown of the objective course of history.
We can see that the North Atlantic Alliance is raising claims not only against its former territory of responsibility but extends them to the entire Asia-Pacific Region. We know that American, British and other European delegations regularly visit Africa and demand, with a stubbornness that should be applied elsewhere, that African countries refrain from cooperation with the Russian delegation and stay within the boundaries of common discipline, which the West essentially sees as restoring colonial dependence in a new form.
No visits to deliver mentor advice nor the hybrid wars of the West (including in Ukraine) can stop the development of new centres of economic power, financial and political influence. Countries like China and India are already ahead of the United States and EU members in many respects. Türkiye, Egypt, countries of the Persian Gulf, Brazil and other Latin American countries are emerging as influential and self-sufficient centres. They are the future centres of multi-polarity.
Africa is one of the most serious centres with colossal potential. It is an extremely affluent continent, including when it comes to natural resources, which have been exploited for many centuries. The West wishes it could continue this exploitative policy in Africa. As far as I understand, the President of Angola proposed convening a summit of the African Union to determine Africa’s place in the emerging world order, primarily in the context of economic development.
We observe similar tendencies in Latin America, where the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, in view of its resumed work and Brazil’s full-fledged participation, considers developing its own mechanisms of monetary relations (even a common currency). The main goal is to protect themselves from the West-controlled chains and mechanisms that have demonstrated their unreliability.
Strengthening regional identity in the developing regions of the world does not mean that multi-polarity is not happening in a global dimension. BRICS is a manifestation of global multi-polarity. This organisation unites five countries, with more than 12 others showing an interest in joining it. Developing links between BRICS and other countries will be a central topic at the upcoming summit of the five which is to take place in August in Durban, South Africa. The clock of multi-polar history is ticking in the right direction.