UN Calls for Attention to Africa at BRICS Summit

The United Nations (UN) has made its presence felt at the BRICS Summit to draw attention to Africa as a continent. Through the visit of its Secretary General, António Guterres, to the event's central gala and other collateral meetings, several calls for solidarity with African markets and economies have been addressed.

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The High Representative said that in a scenario such as the BRICS, it is essential to pay special attention to Africa, a continent that is underrepresented in the global financial architecture and lacks permanent representation in the Security Council.

Guterres acknowledged that the current situation is desperate on a global scale, as it faces various challenges such as climate change, the rise of armed conflicts, inflation and the high cost of living, the increase in social inequalities and the problems brought about by technological development.

The UN representative arrived at this meeting after having received an official invitation from the countries that make up the BRICS group (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). Guterres launched his appeal at the plenary session held at the Sandton Convention Center in Johannesburg.

The theme of this meeting is BRICS and Africa: partnership for mutually accelerated growth, sustainable development and inclusive multilateralism, defining contents that are essential for the development and progress of not only the emerging economies but also for the take-off of the underdeveloped economies of the African continent.

Guterres' main communication agenda has been developed at the BRICS-Africa Outreach meeting and at the high-level dialogues of the meeting. "This is a time for us to come together and work together. But, instead, divisions are growing and tensions are increasing," he said in front of more than 20 global leaders and representatives.

"If we are not able to reform our institutions to ensure that they resume a truly universal character, we run the risk of fragmentation, and fragmentation may one day be a factor of confrontation (...). Developed countries have a particular responsibility and that is why they must lead and comply," he added in another part of his speech.

Guterres called for a new social contract to be made at all social scales, based on respect for human rights. He also stressed the climate and environmental urgency in which the planet is involved, and the need for political will to promote responsible environmental measures consistent with the challenges that are faced and coming.

The importance that the UN has given to the XV BRICS Summit, as a platform for communicating its main concerns, shows the crucial importance that the economic bloc is taking beyond its own founding objectives.

Today it constitutes one of the main spaces for dealing with global and strategic issues, from a perspective not only economic and financial, but also political and socioculturally, based on the new objectives pursued in the Global South project, and with the recognition and sponsorship of important international institutions and organizations such as the UN.