The successful conclusion of the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi, helmed by PM Modi, has given BRICS an identity as a Global South institution. A fulsome agenda through the New Delhi Declaration and the ability to get Iran, UAE and Saudi Arabia to agree on a consensual text marked the occasion.
Africa came to the New Delhi BRICS Summit with a stronger voice than ever before. With South Africa, Egypt and Ethiopia as full BRICS members, the continent was no longer merely an invited constituency of the Global South. All three participated in the leaders’ deliberations, while South Africa brought the experience of being a founding BRICS member and Egypt and Ethiopia represented two important African sub-regions and newer members of the expanded grouping.
Uganda and Nigeria participated as designated partners of BRICS. Burundi was invited as Chair of the African Union as India reached out to heads of regional organisations to enhance the Global South identity of BRICS.
The most important African contribution was therefore political: Africa helped make BRICS more representative of the Global South. Prime Minister Modi specifically welcomed Ethiopia’s participation as strengthening the collective voice of the Global South.
South Africa came with a particularly clear economic agenda. President Cyril Ramaphosa used the BRICS Business Forum and the India-South Africa Business Leadership Roundtable to argue for more intra-BRICS trade and investment, African industrialisation, value addition and investment in infrastructure linked to the African Continental Free Trade Area. South Africa also emphasised agriculture, supply chains, women-led development, digitalisation and innovation.
This is important because it moves the African BRICS agenda beyond the traditional demand for more aid or development assistance. The emphasis is increasingly on investment, production and value chains. Africa does not want to remain an exporter of minerals and agricultural commodities while importing finished products. The South African position was particularly explicit about industrialisation and beneficiation.
This found a significant echo in the New Delhi Declaration. The declaration calls for reliable and diversified critical-mineral supply chains, but, crucially, links them to value addition and economic diversification in resource-rich countries. It also calls for developing countries to gain greater access to higher-value segments of global manufacturing through investment, productive capacity, technology transfer and technical cooperation.
That is probably the most tangible African imprint on the summit’s economic language.
A second African contribution was the push for financial reform. African economies remain particularly vulnerable to expensive external financing, currency volatility and dependence on dollar-based payment systems. South Africa has consistently argued for greater use of local currencies, more efficient cross-border payments and development finance that responds to Global South priorities. The New Delhi Declaration therefore welcomed continued work on BRICS cross-border payment interoperability and settlements in local currencies, while recognising that there could be no single model for all members.
Africa also gained from the strengthening of the New Development Bank. The declaration explicitly describes the NDB as a strategic instrument for development and encourages it to expand local-currency financing, mobilise resources and support infrastructure, sustainable development and economic integration across the Global South. Ethiopia’s admission to the NDB process is particularly significant: it has been admitted by the Board of Governors and is currently a prospective member. The NDB currently has three African members — South Africa, Egypt, Algeria and Ethiopia is in the process of joining.
There were some specific diplomatic gains. The New Delhi Declaration endorsed Ethiopia as the sole African Union-endorsed African candidate for the expanded ICAO Council. The accession of Ethiopia to the WTO was also endorsed. This may seem a small issue compared with the major geopolitical questions before BRICS, but it shows how African countries can use BRICS to build support for representation in international institutions.
The meetings on the margins were equally important. Modi met Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to review economic cooperation, defence and security, capacity building and regional and international issues. India specifically acknowledged Ethiopia’s contribution to strengthening the Global South voice. Modi also held discussions with South African President Ramaphosa and Egyptian President El-Sisi, with trade, investment and wider strategic cooperation featuring prominently. Modi also met Uganda VP Jessica Rose Epel Alupo and reaffirmed India’s support to Uganda’s ‘Vision 2040’ for a transformed and prosperous Uganda. In his meeting with Nigerian VP Kashim Shettima Mustapha, they reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthening the India-Nigeria Strategic Partnership. Nigeria and Uganda should consider the opportunity of BRICS better and attend at level of HoS.
Burundi as the Chair of the AU honoured the invitation by attending at the level of President Évariste Ndayishimiye. In his meeting with Modi, they recalled India’s role in bringing the African Union into the G20 fold during India’s presidency in 2023, and stressed that the India-African Union partnership is a key pillar of cooperation within the Global South. They discussed the early convening of the 4th India-Africa Forum Summit (IAFS-IV)
Egypt, meanwhile, participated directly in the closed leaders’ session on “Inclusive Global Governance and Strengthening Multilateral Action” and delivered its national statement before the adoption of the New Delhi Declaration. Egypt’s presence also gave BRICS a stronger African and Arab dimension, particularly on Palestine, West Asia and the Red Sea.
What, then, did Africa actually gain?
First, voice. Three African states now sit inside the core BRICS decision-making process.
Second, finance. Strengthening the NDB, local-currency financing, and cross-border payment mechanisms could eventually reduce some of the structural disadvantages faced by African economies.
Third, investment and industrialisation. The language on critical minerals, beneficiation, manufacturing and value chains directly addresses Africa’s longstanding concern that it exports resources without capturing sufficient value from them.
Fourth, diplomatic leverage. BRICS’ commitment to reform international institutions demonstrates that African countries can use BRICS to amplify positions that might otherwise have limited weight.
But the real test will be implementation. Africa contributed a development agenda to BRICS; what it gained in New Delhi was largely a stronger framework for pursuing that agenda. The summit did not suddenly transform Africa’s access to capital, technology or markets. What it did was move the discussion from Africa as a recipient of development towards Africa as a producer, investor, owner of resources and participant in global value chains.
That, in my view, is the more significant African story of BRICS in New Delhi.
