The East African nation would be willing to join BRICS, a group of the world's largest emerging economies, in its crusade to bring about changes in the world order and establish multipolarity in international relations, said Uganda's ambassador to Russia, Moses Kizige, in an interview with Sputnik Africa.
When asked about the role Uganda could play in the emerging multipolar global architecture, the ambassador pointed to the BRICS group and its efforts to alter the current international order, in which a few nations dominate the majority.
In this regard, he stated that Uganda is ready to be part of this initiative aimed at ensuring a more just world order. He recalled that his country has maintained a strong relationship with most of the BRICS members for many years.
"All the people involved in all the BRICS countries other than Brazil, but Russia, India, China and South Africa, have been very, very close to Uganda for many, many years. So if they see the opportunity for Uganda to join this initiative, I know my government would be happy to do that," the ambassador said.
He emphasized that African nations, and in particular Uganda, don't want to be controlled by groups of states that don't represent the majority of the world. At the same time, he said, the BRICS group comprises nations from various continents, and have over half of the world's population.
"We see moving to the next step, we don't want to be dominated by people who don't have the majority of the numbers, because in the BRICS and their associates we have more than half of the world population. So we want to organize our own resources in our own way instead of being influenced by others," Kizige stated.
He explained that instead of being influenced by others, African countries want to be able to take advantage of their own resources and follow an independent development path.
The ambassador also touched upon the topic of the Russia-Africa summit, scheduled to take place in St. Petersburg this July. He noted that as during the last Russia-Africa summit, Moscow and African nations agreed to enhance trade relations, and the upcoming meeting will see discussions on this particular issue.
"We want to enhance and strengthen the trade relations between Russia and Africa. That is the future. For us in Africa we want partnership, we want to create. We don't want aid anymore because we have all the resources, we have the mineral resources," Kizige said.
According to the ambassador, even though Africa is rich in resources, it lacks, what he called, "the capacity to evolve what we have." Therefore, the continent needs to attract more investments and develop partnerships "to be able to be at equal levels with everybody else."
Officials from many countries have repeatedly hailed BRICS’ efforts to advance the interests of developing nations, including those from Africa, on the international arena.
For example, Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki told Sputnik Africa in an exclusive interview that the creation of new formats for economic cooperation like BRICS is not only about challenging the West's cycle of interference and sanctions, but also about establishing a new world order for the future.
Last week, on the sidelines of the BRICS ministerial meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov stated that the group is moving forward, showing its strength and importance as the center of a new multipolar world order.