I am very happy to join you all this evening.

Thierry, thank you for the invitation.

To begin, I want to commend you for continuing to steer the debate about global governance in the right direction. You have managed to do this by bridging different perspectives, and I applaud you for this.

For decades, the “golden age” of globalization was built on the assumption that economic ties would make war more expensive, and peace easily attainable. Today, however, the very global networks that were supposed to bring us closer together, have become a source of vulnerability.

Global integration produces shared gains, but in moments of crisis, it can also lead to chokepoints.

The Covid pandemic was a wake-up call. For one, it reminded us that crises are no longer confined within borders. They easily spread. Secondly, it showed us the downside of trading resilience for efficiency. When manufacturing hubs are concentrated in a few of countries, those nations will prioritize their citizens when there is a shortage.

Today, ongoing conflicts are exposing the same structural fragility in the international system. The flow of essential goods can be blocked at a single point of failure, and everyone ends up paying the price. Political scientists call this “weaponized interdependence”.

For Africa, what these external shocks reveal, is the risks of dependency.

To this day, many blame the era of colonialism and structural adjustment for this mindset. While true in a sense, the habit of making excuses only traps us in a cycle, where we see ourselves as victims, with no power to change our circumstances. And that is completely false.

In Rwanda, in the aftermath of the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi, we learnt that the best solutions are home-grown. Those that come from within, and respond directly to our local context, yield the highest returns.

That is why, in the past few years, there have been more efforts within Africa to mobilize domestic resources, localize production, strengthen our supply chains, and integrate our economies. A more self-reliant Africa, with its own fertilizer plants, oil refineries, and pharmaceutical firms, will contribute more positively to global stability.

What Africa wants is simple: To take care of ourselves, and work productively and respectfully with others.

With the fragmentation we are seeing around the world, more isolation is not the solution. It will breed rivalry and breed division. Viewing development as a positive-sum game, rather than a competition, can bring the predictability and coherence that our global system desperately needs.

The question is not whether we can build a perfectly balanced world. It’s whether we can co-exist, even with our differences, and still prosper together.

Thierry, I look forward to our conversation. I thank you all for your kind attention.