A shared future: BRICS and the Global South

Forging partnerships to deliver prosperity for all

- DR IQBAL SURVE

OVER the last two decades, we have entered a profoundly different period in global history, the era of a multipolar world. The emergence of the BRICS grouping, which represents around 40% of the world’s population and GDP, is significant because, for the first time, it offers people from the Global South a genuine opportunity to benefit from the growing wealth of the world.

T have never seen BRICS as being opposed to the West. On the contrary, for many years, BRICS has supported globalisation. Remembering Thomas Friedman's The World Is Flat, the sharing of information, resources, knowledge, and technology has the potential to create immense wealth for the entire world. This is the promise of BRICS and of a multipolar world.

The BRICS Heads of State Summit

One of the singular privileges of my participation, whether through the BRICS Business Forum, the BRICS Business Council, the BRICS Media Forum, or meetings with heads of state, has been the immense honour of engaging directly with the leaders of the BRICS countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Each of these engagements was unique yet equally important, contributing meaningfully to the development of South Africa and the broader Global South.

I had the privilege of delivering keynote speeches to the heads of state, including Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Narendra Modi, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Dilma Rousseff, Cyril Ramaphosa and Jacob Zuma. In these addresses, I emphasised the importance of working together, strengthening cooperation, developing integrated payment systems, and supporting the establishment of the New Development Bank. I also advocated for the creation of working groups across multiple sectors, from sustainability to climate change.

Most importantly, I called for greater unity between BRICS nations and those from the Northern Hemisphere to engage actively in shared humanity, growth, and peace despite political or cultural differences.