Ramaphosa urges BRICS to drive investment, beneficiation across Global South

President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on BRICS countries to use the grouping to reshape global economic patterns by directing investment towards production, manufacturing and beneficiation across the Global South.

Addressing the BRICS Business Forum in New Delhi on Friday, Ramaphosa said the expanded BRICS bloc had an opportunity to build more resilient and inclusive economies rather than repeat the traditional pattern of developing countries exporting raw materials while higher-value production takes place elsewhere.

“We cannot accept a future where Africa supplies the minerals on which the next generation of industries depends, while value addition and manufacturing take place elsewhere,” Ramaphosa said.

He said investment needed to be directed towards manufacturing and beneficiation, industrial technologies, energy systems, infrastructure and logistics.

The President also challenged companies to look beyond using BRICS countries simply as markets and instead establish production facilities and build local capabilities.

“The question is no longer whether there is potential within BRICS, but whether we have the ambition, the instruments and the partnerships to convert this potential into economic value for our people,” he said.

The BRICS Business Forum brought together business leaders, ministers and heads of state to discuss trade, investment, finance, technology and development challenges shaping the bloc's economic agenda.

The forum also provides a platform for the BRICS Business Council to put forward recommendations that can influence the grouping's summit declarations and work plans, including areas such as intra-BRICS trade, investment, the digital economy, small businesses, standards cooperation and value-chain integration.

Ramaphosa said governments and the private sector needed to work together to turn these opportunities into tangible economic activity.

“Instead, we need a compact: governments create the enabling conditions for trade and investment, and business seeks out the opportunities for production and commerce,” he said.

He described BRICS as being at an “inflection point” as global trade patterns shift, technology advances and climate pressures force countries and companies to reconsider where they source, produce and invest.

According to Ramaphosa, this presents an opportunity for BRICS to create a more diversified economic future for developing countries.

“For too long, developing economies have participated in global value chains mainly as suppliers of raw commodities. Value creation, technology and higher-value manufacturing remained concentrated elsewhere,” he said.

The President warned that the expanded BRICS should not reproduce the same economic pattern internally.

He said resilience should not only mean surviving global disruptions but also using them to develop new capabilities and partnerships.

Ramaphosa arrived in New Delhi on Friday, ahead of the 18th BRICS Summit, which is being held from September 12 to 13 under India's chairship.

The summit comes as BRICS seeks to deepen cooperation among its expanded membership and strengthen its role in advancing the economic interests of the Global South.