Let me also condole with the President of the country – Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi – during this difficult time of loss. No loss is greater than losing a mother. At 95, Mma Tshelang had lived a full and hopefully, a

fulfilled life.

Her husband (Edison Sethomo Masisi) was Member of the country’s first Parliament; her son, Tshelang Masisi was also MP and she lived to see her other son, Mokgweetsi, sworn in as the country’s fifth president! May Her Soul rest in Peace.

Of-course we also send our condolences to all the families of the 22 victims of the horrific road accident that happened when a kombi travelling from Maun collided with a truck from Zambia last week on the A3 Road. May Their Souls Rest in Peace!

That said, the foreign ministers of BRICS – the economic bloc comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – met in Cape Town, South Africa last week to discuss a wide range of current international issues, cooperation at multilateral venues, ways to strengthen the BRICS countries’ strategic partnership, BRICS institution building, and preparations for the 15th BRICS summit scheduled for August 22-24.

What was exciting is that the agenda also included an extended Fiends of BRICS meeting attended by foreign ministers from 12 developing countries: Argentina, Bangladesh, the Comoro Islands, Cuba, Gabon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

It is axiomatic that BRICS, with its New Development Bank (NDB), which hopes to act as an alternative to the Bretton Woods’ institutions – World Bank and

International Monetary Fund (IMF)- is on a clear path of growth trajectory.

There is certainly no turning back. The trod towards de-dollarisation is a living reality that cannot be gainsaid neither can it be reversed. The global economy is undergoing a great imbalance characterised by increasing stagflation, hence the unavoidable austerity measures in most countries.

Dollars are getting smaller and smaller leading to higher prices in the global South, and compounded by the West’ sanctions on Russia, the situation can only grow from bad to worse!

In a time past, - and driven by the convertibility of dollars into gold, the US international currency, was the global reserve currency choice, however, as the Russian foreign minister has observed early this year, all that is now gone.

“In a world of paper money, we need to engage more actively with each other. There has been some movement in this direction with respect to trade in commodities, oil. We have BRICS New Development Bank, which can work on a new agenda.

“We need to encourage these new trends and make greater use of national currencies in our trade. This will provide more stability to the economies of our countries”.

Let’s consider a few truths about his new bloc, which aims to create a new, more just and balanced world order, and to provide the world’s states with ample opportunities to cooperate on a variety of issues:

Among countries willing to join BRICS are, Egypt, Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Indonesia, Argentina, Mexico and a number of African countries.

At the end of 2022, BRICS overtook the G7 countries - France, the US, the UK, Germany, Japan, Italy, and Canada - in terms of aggregate GDP. BRICS’ share of the global economy is 31.5%, whereas G7 accounts for only 30.7%.

This upward trend is forecast to continue in the coming years. Without any shred of doubt, BRICS are outpacing the G7 not only economically but also demographically. There are 800 million people living in the G7 countries compared with 3.2 billion in BRICS countries

It is precisely on this premise that I urge my country – Botswana – to consider joining BRICS at the soonest. Once this train has left the station, it will a hard task to catch it again. We need to make hay while the sun shines.

And indeed the sun is shining bright for countries of SADC, which are fortunate enough to have one of their member states – South Africa – as a member of this bloc. South Africa is not just a BRICS member, it is also Africa’s most industrialised economy, and certainly one of the most diversified economies in Africa.

For Botswana, South Africa is our biggest trading partner outside the European Union (EU). It is one country we cannot afford to start a conflict with. Botswana is actually in the same unenviable position as Ukraine in eastern Europe.

How do I mean? Russia has accused the military alliance - North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) – of expanding into its borders, hence the invasion of Ukraine last February 2022, which it was felt was being used as a proxy by the USA and NATO.

Now, we have a similar situation here in southern Africa with Botswana, an immediate neighbour of South Africa, being accused in many quarters and significantly by South Africa’s militant political party, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) of hosting a US military airbase – Thebephatshwa!

EFF says it fears that should South Africa rub the United States the wrong way, the US could easily deploy its fighter jets and missiles from Botswana to obliterate South Africa in a matter of minutes!

To avoid these possibilities, Botswana must choose her friends wiseluy, and thefre is no doubt that BRICS offer us prospects to create a more stable region in which all countries coexist in an atmosphere of trust and eventually, peace!

We can only hope that the BRICS Summit in August will hopefully be held in South Africa as initially planned, so that with its proximity to our country, we may also be swayed and persuaded into seeing the New Reality of a New World Order, and hopefully, join it!