SPIEF 2024
The 2024 edition of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) takes place from June 5 to 8. The theme of this year's event is “The foundation of a multipolar world - forming new points of growth”.

Global South Coming Together is Opening Opportunity for Equality, South African Expert Argues

On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed a plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF). The event also included speeches by the Presidents of Bolivia and Zimbabwe, Luis Alberto Arce Catacora and Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Sputnik
Coming together as the global majority in the Global South is opening up an opportunity for equality and multiolarity, David Monyae, Associate Professor of Political Science and International Relations and Director of the Centre for Africa-China Studies (CACS) at the University of Johannesburg, told Sputnik Africa on the sidelines of the SPIEF.
Asked about Putin's speech at the plenary session at the forum, the expert argued that the Russian leader was talking about the ongoing shift to the global multipolar order and an end to the dominance of the West.

"I think he was talking in terms of the old world of colonialism and imperialism, and the role of the US dollar in terms of subjugating developing countries is coming to an end," Monyae said. "That the coming together of the global majority in the global south is opening up an opportunity of equality and more polarity at a global level."

According to the professor, that trend is more sustained by the fact that Russia will play a critical role along with other countries.

"I think that the presence of the Bolivian president and the president of Zimbabwe gave it a much more sense in which Russia is working with the developing countries, especially those who are at the receiving end of what we all see as imperialism," he added. "Zimbabwe in particular has been under economic sanctions from the Western world but has been able to survive. And those are some of the issues that are present in the textbook."

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