Speaking as the representative of Egypt at this year’s UN General Assembly, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Hassan Shoukry Selim echoed many thoughts and proposals that have come from BRICS-Plus friends and allies among the Global South. Egypt itself is one of six newly-invited members of the BRICS, a fact that Foreign Minister Shoukry brought up during his address.
First, he spoke about the danger of war and the need for a different approach to peace. “In a world whose main attribute is interdependence and globalization, no one is secure unless everyone is secure.… The serious implications of the conflict in Ukraine have clearly illustrated that the security and stability of one party to the conflict cannot be addressed to the exclusion of another and that the responsibility of conflict resolution is indeed incumbent upon all of us, not only those directly affected.” Shoukry then mentioned that Egypt has worked toward a peaceful settlement, including the Arab Contact Group and the African Leaders Initiative.
Shoukry then went straight at the dying neoliberal order: “Events since the end of World War II have revealed a structural deficiency vis-à-vis the international system’s ability to deal with political, security, and socio-economic crises. The hallmark of this era has been a marked tendency by the great powers to attempt to usurp or monopolize the international community’s decision-making process while paying scant heed to the rights, ambitions, and legitimate interests of hundreds of millions of world citizens. This untenable situation indicated the dire need for the immediate and drastic reform of international governance mechanisms.”
