South Africa is advocating for the delivery of practical outcomes for developing countries at the 18th BRICS Summit.
This includes unlocking climate finance, reforming global institutions, expanding local-currency trade and creating greater value from Africa’s critical minerals.
“We are looking at BRICS reasserting itself as a premier multilateral platform for development for the Global South and as a key voice on developmental issues,” Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Ronald Lamola told SAnews.gov.za on Friday, ahead of the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi, India.
India is hosting the summit in New Delhi on Saturday and Sunday (12-13 September 2026) under the theme: “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability.”
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In an interview with SAnews.gov.za, Lamola emphasised the need to advance reforms of global financial institutions and the broader international financial architecture, as well as the United Nations (UN) and other key multilateral forums, including the World Trade Organization, which plays a central role in global trade.
With the process to appoint the next UN Secretary-General already under way ahead of António Guterres’ term ending in December 2026, Lamola said it would be important for countries of the Global South to share views and coordinate their approach.
“It will be important for countries of the Global South to share views, compare notes and discuss how we should approach this process, bearing in mind that the UN has never elected a woman Secretary-General. It is also Latin America’s turn, in terms of the informal tradition of regional rotation.
“These are some of the issues we look forward to engaging on, including climate change. We have to use the BRICS platform as a bridge between the Global South and the Global North on climate change adaptation,” Lamola said.
On climate change, Lamola said developed countries, particularly those in the Global North, have an obligation to provide financing for adaptation measures in developing countries.
“But this is not only about climate change. It is also about development in the Global South, including critical minerals and how countries of the Global South, particularly on the African continent, can harness these resources. Africa is well endowed with critical minerals,” the Minister said.
South Africa, he said, would use the BRICS platform to push for greater value to be unlocked from Africa’s critical minerals, while stressing that countries should not merely export these resources in raw form.
Greater beneficiation would mean more processing taking place on the continent, stronger industrial development, expanded manufacturing opportunities, skills development and more value retained from Africa’s natural resources.
“We are therefore looking forward to BRICS advancing the beneficiation and development of critical minerals in countries of the Global South, particularly on the African continent.
“As you are aware, we now have several African countries in BRICS, making it an important platform to advance these priorities.
“We must also look at how we harness the potential of Africa’s youthful and growing population of about 1.4 billion people. How do we take that population forward, including through skills development for young people and climate change adaptation?” the Minister said.
Lamola also highlighted discussions on payment methods and financing systems that could enable BRICS countries to trade and settle payments more easily in their own currencies.
India’s chairship has also placed emphasis on strengthening cooperation in areas such as health, agriculture, food and energy security, supply chains, digital public infrastructure, artificial intelligence, development finance, trade facilitation, green finance and climate action.
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The summit marks the culmination of India’s 2026 BRICS chairship, which has focused on four priorities: resilience, innovation, cooperation and sustainability.
The expanded grouping now includes major emerging economies and developing countries, giving South Africa another platform to advance Global South priorities such as development finance, climate adaptation, industrialisation and fairer global governance.
“We are also looking at payment methods and financing systems being discussed through the Finance Track. We hope these can be developed into practical and tradable systems that will yield benefits for BRICS countries, including enabling us to pay each other in local currencies,” the Minister said.