World
BRICS at Rio de Janeiro: And What Next?
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
Popularly referred to as BRICS, the informal group of emerging-market economies (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), meeting in Rio de Janeiro, has outlined a new unprecedented multitude of goals to challenge unipolar system. In the context of rising uncertainty, BRICS has further set up new models to change the economic architecture through South-South cooperation.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva hosted early July BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro, capital city of Brazil. U.S. President Donald Trump’s position on many sensitive issues has offered the association something of a dilemma. In a joint statement decried “the rise of unjustified unilateral protectionist measures” and the “indiscriminate raising” of tariffs. BRICS members all agree that “these tariffs are not productive,” Ambassador Xolisa Mabhongo, South Africa’s lead negotiator, or sherpa, said in an interview. “They are not good for the world economy. They are not good for development.”
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has a raft of controversies with United States over the introduction of single BRICS currency, a suggestion he mooted in 2023. Besides that Brazil is currently facing steep economic challenges in the face of trade frictions with the United States. Majority of his citizens are facing deportation, it implies significant fallen in remittances and that would worsen social and financial standing of families across Brazil. It has had diverse criticisms, so are other new BRICS members with vastly different political and economic systems, and yet advocating for reshaping the global balance of power. Most of them are negotiating to be at discussion table, to straighten economic ties, with President Donald Trump.
On one hand, BRICS leaders seriously Trump’s “indiscriminate” import tariffs and other trade policies. On the other hand, Trump has also warned that countries which sideline with the policies of the BRICS alliance against United States interests will be hit with an extra 10% tariffs.
BRICS summit further called for strengthening multilateralism. China unreservedly underscored its desire to work with member states to “strengthen the BRICS strategic partnership and safeguard multilateralism,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said in a briefing in Beijing. With noticeable policy and economic disparities, its rapid expansion to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates bolstered its representation — the new BRICS accounts for about 40% of global GDP and roughly half the planet’s population.
BRICS policy to build a multipolar world has attracted developing countries. Trade among the five original BRICS nations grew 40% between 2021 and 2024 to US$740 billion a year, according to International Monetary Fund data.
Emerging Tasks from Rio de Janeiro
Brazil took over from Russia last year December, promised to put in complete order housekeeping issues — officially termed institutional development — on the agenda to better integrate new members and boost internal cohesion. With ten (10) partner members that includes Belarus, Cuba and Vietnam, BRICS plans to work ‘ad hoc practical cooperation’ basis. These partner states have absolutely no decision-making authority as full members. The enlarged bloc is now characterized by emerging potential opportunities but deepening frictions. BRICS is increasingly experiencing complexities based on their individual priorities and geopolitical orientations. Yet the bloc, often denying the unpredictable stage of stark realities, continues boasting of coherence and systemic efforts toward creating a multipolarity.
BRICS boasts of huge resources, and substantially claims to be ahead of other groups in this parameter, including G7 with US$57 trillion. Further to that, BRICS has many supporters in the Global South and East.
At the tail-end of the July 6th to 7th summit, BRICS reset new tasks, little achievements were highlighted by speakers, in addition to those previously rattled phrases such as BRICS leads ‘multipolar world’ and be guided as key centres of global governance and work collective towards economic growth, and further gravitate the development of markets in the Global South. The question of payment in local currencies was underscored while BRICS members emphasized reducing the use of dollar in currency transactions. In fact, several promising initiatives have, thus become future responsibilities of India, who takes up the BRICS Chairmanship.
Russia’s Achievements
During the final summit at Kazan, which was held in October 2024, Russia established a category of BRICS partner states. In addition, Russia proposed creating a whole new BRICS investment platform. The idea behind it is to jointly develop coordinated instruments to support and to bring in the funds from the economies of BRICS countries and from the Global South and Global East countries. It suggested launching a special mechanism for holding consultations on World Trade Organisation matters. The processes for creating a grain exchange, a climate research centre, a permanent logistics platform, and a sports cooperation programme in BRICS are moving forward.
There are other valuable ideas proposed by Russia, which include the formation of a carbon market partnership, an arbitration investment centre, a fair competition platform, and a permanent tax secretariat within BRICS.
In September, Moscow will host Intervision, a popular international television song contest which has got the attention of numerous performers from BRICS and BRICS partner countries who confirmed their willingness to participate in it. A humanitarian project of that magnitude is designed to promote universal, cultural, family, and spiritual values shared by members.
India’s Proposals
With participation of BRICS members, partners and outreach invitees, India proposed the creation of BRICS Science and Research Repository to promote collaboration in critical areas, highlighted its initiatives in agri-biotech and digital education access, calling on BRICS to adopt a demand-driven approach and ensure long-term financial sustainability in New Development Bank (NDB) projects.
China’s Suggestions
Chinese Premier Li Qiang praised the complementary advantages and suggested broader forms of cooperation in such areas as digital economy, green economy, sci-tech innovation and aerospace. From notable indications, China stands ready to closely work with members and partners in enriching the dimensions both on bilateral basis and multilateral relations. China expressed high concerns over achieving concrete results, rather than mere high-quality rhetoric. Premier Li Qiang further talked about BRICS working within multilateral frameworks such as the United Nations, the G20 and the African Union (AU), Eurasia and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States.
New Development Bank
The BRICS Bank President, Dilma Rousseff, has officially welcomed Colombia and Uzbekistan as new members. The membership now totalled 11 members, including Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Bangladesh, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Algeria. “We have several other countries under observation and review, and they may join the bank in the future,” Rousseff stated at the briefing in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The NDB, established in 2015 as a multilateral development bank, operates with full respect for the sovereignty and development priorities of its member countries. Based in Shanghai, the bank has already approved over 120 projects worth a total of US$40 billion, focusing on areas such as clean energy, transport infrastructure, environmental protection, and social infrastructure.
Final Declaration
After the plenary session the final Declaration of the 17th BRICS summit – “Rio de Janeiro Declaration” – was adopted on 6th July 2025. The document welcomed Indonesia as a new BRICS member, and the following Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Nigeria, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Uganda, and Uzbekistan as BRICS partner countries.
The 126 point-document passed on the Chairmanship to India in 2026 and the holding of the XVIII BRICS Summit in India. The document acknowledged the significance of (i) Strengthening Multilateralism and Reforming Global Governance (ii) Promoting Peace, Security and International Stability (iii) Deepening International Economic, Trade and Financial Cooperation (iv) Combating Climate Change and Promoting Sustainable Development (v) Partnerships for the Promotion of Human, Social and Cultural Development
Conclusion
Analysts say in a summarized comment that despite the glaring inconsistencies among the group, even as they have, somehow, managed to speak with one voice on major international issues, China and India both interested to lead the BRICS and the Global South as a whole. India Prime Minister Narendra Modi takes over the BRICS presidency for 2026, as he explained that the group’s diversity is its strength, and shares collective commitment to emerging multipolar world. Original members of the bloc Brazil, Russia, India, and China have been joined by South Africa and, more recently, by Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Ethiopia and Indonesia.
Kestér Kenn Klomegâh has a diverse work experience in the field of business intelligence and consultancy. His focused research interest includes geopolitical changes, foreign relations and economic development related questions in Africa with external countries. Klomegâh has media publications, policy monographs and e-handbooks
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
One year after launching a continental initiative designed to make excellence in public governance the foundation of a new drive to transform Africa, LEAD, the Africa CEO Forum’s pan-African leadership programme, takes stock of its first cohort and announces the launch of its second class. Built around a community of senior public decision-makers committed to modernising the state and to the continent’s digital transformation, this new cohort gathers for three days, from 28 to 30 August 2026, on the campus of Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) in Rabat, Morocco.
A second cohort that confirms the programme’s durability
For its second class, LEAD brings together 50 fellows, senior public decision-makers engaged in the design and implementation of the continent’s economic and social policies. Over three days, participants take part in collective and collaborative working sessions, peer exchanges and meetings with figures from the public, business and academic spheres, in order to compare their practices and build shared responses to the major challenges of governance.
Speakers include Mehdi Jomaa, former Head of Government of Tunisia, Donald Kaberuka, Managing Partner & Founder, SouthBridge Group, and former President of the African Development Bank, Serge Ekue, President of the West African Development Bank (BOAD), Sanjay Jain, co-creator of India Stack and Director of Digital Public Infrastructure, Gates Foundation, and Mauricio Cardenas, Professor of Professional Practice in Global Leadership, Columbia SIPA, and former Finance Minister of Colombia (2012-2018).
They share their reform experience, their public policy trade-offs and their view of continental priorities. Throughout the programme, the cohort benefits from the dedicated support of Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Asafo & Co, BOAD, BCG and the African Development Bank, LEAD partners that have chosen to invest in the transformation of African public action.
LEAD, a pan-African community serving public action
Created by the AFRICA CEO FORUM, LEAD is a leadership programme whose ambition is to reposition Africa’s administrative elite as a driver of reform, of performance and of dialogue with all the continent’s stakeholders.
Designed for senior African public decision-makers, LEAD sets out to build a lasting community of public officials able to share their experience, compare their practices and build common solutions to the major economic, technological and institutional transformations under way in Africa. That community is structured around three pillars: modernizing the state, improving public services, and strengthening cooperation between governments, development institutions and private-sector players.
From fellows to alumni: a long-term initiative
Made up of 36 fellows drawn from a range of administrations and institutions and representing 24 countries across the continent, LEAD’s first cohort demonstrated the quality and the potential of this community from its very first year. In less than twelve months, six of its members have taken a significant step forward: two have been appointed ministers, two have moved into strategic positions at the highest level of the state and two have been promoted to chief executive roles. These moves, which account for 16.7% of the first class, show the role LEAD plays as an accelerator of impact within African administrations.
By bringing together a new cohort of fellows every year, each of them joining the LEAD alumni community, the initiative follows a long-term trajectory: in time, to unite several hundred African public decision-makers around a shared culture of transparency, performance and regional cooperation.
A first year devoted to public service and digital public infrastructure
Throughout the year, the fellows devoted their work to strengthening African public action, to make excellence in public governance a central lever of transformation. An awareness campaign, run as part of Africa Public Service Day, brought to light those who, within the continent’s administrations and institutions, are concretely transforming public policy and improving the services offered to citizens.
Members of the cohort also took part in a special round table held in Kigali during the ACF 2026, in order to carry their thinking to a wider community of public and private leaders. That forum reinforced LEAD’s role as a platform for dialogue between the administrative elite and the continent’s economic players. Digital public infrastructure (DPI) formed the main thread of this first year of work.
Discussions covered issues at the heart of the digital sovereignty of African states: digital identity, payments, secure data exchange, interoperability, governance and the protection of citizens. This work examined the conditions under which African states are developing, in some cases, and can develop, in others, shared, open infrastructure robust enough to improve the quality of public services while supporting local innovation and preserving the capacity of public authorities to set the rules of the game.
A white paper to move from consuming technology to creating value
This year of work concludes with the publication, in collaboration with BCG, LEAD’s Knowledge Partner, of a white paper on Africa’s place in the digital economy and in artificial intelligence. With the digital economy still accounting for around 5% of African GDP, against close to 15% worldwide, the paper calls on the continent to shift from a logic of technology consumption to one of value creation.
The white paper identifies three structuring priorities for African public actors:
- Building shared digital infrastructure that serves as the backbone of public services and private innovation.
- Pooling investment in order to reach critical mass and avoid the fragmentation of efforts across the continent.
- Favouring open and interoperable architectures, with trust and governance built in by design, so as to protect citizens while stimulating the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
The white paper is available here to all public decision-makers, technical partners and institutions concerned.
“LEAD’s first cohort confirms a simple conviction: Africa already has the women and men capable of profoundly transforming public action. Our responsibility, either with our partners, is to give them, at pan-African level, a space in which to compare experience, build common solutions and bring forward a new generation of public policy. With this second cohort, we want to accelerate the move from ambition to execution, in particular on digital public infrastructure and artificial intelligence, two decisive issues for sovereignty, for the effectiveness of the state and for value creation across the continent,” says Amir Ben Yahmed, President of the Africa CEO Forum.
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
Africa is set to make history as it hosts the World Public Summit for the first time, with Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, welcoming global leaders and changemakers from July 29–30, 2026, for the landmark gathering under the theme “New World: Africa in Shaping a Shared Future.”
The inaugural African edition of the World Public Summit marks a significant milestone in the continent’s growing role in shaping international dialogue on governance, sustainable development, human-centred leadership and global cooperation.
Hosted by the World Peoples Assembly in partnership with African and international organisations, the summit will convene government officials, diplomats, business leaders, academics, journalists, youth representatives, civil society organisations and cultural leaders from across Africa and around the world.
According to Andrey Belyaninov, General Secretary of the World Peoples Assembly, “the Summit is not just a meeting—it is a space for unity. A space where the ‘values that unite us’ come to life: respect for people, openness to the world, responsibility for the future, and a commitment to creation.
“Today, we understand more clearly than ever: the future cannot be built alone. It is born in dialogue, in trust, in the ability to listen to one another and to act together.”
The programme begins on July 29 with a series of high-level roundtables and expert discussions covering Pan-African economic integration, civil society, education, scientific cooperation, cultural diplomacy and humanitarian partnerships.
The opening plenary, “Values, Development and Partnership as the Basis of a Sustainable and Just World,” will explore how African values—including Ubuntu—can help shape a more inclusive and sustainable global future. Discussions will also focus on youth leadership, innovation, civil society, ethical AI, public initiatives and international partnerships.
The summit will also showcase Africa’s creativity and innovation through the “Innovations for the Future” exhibition, the contemporary African art exhibition “Unity,” and the international exhibition “The World Paints Happiness.”
Another featured initiative is “The Zambezi River: Economy, Society, Soul,” an international interdisciplinary project exploring the river’s socioeconomic importance across Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, highlighting the shared heritage and development potential of one of Africa’s most important waterways.
The event will conclude with the adoption of the African Communiqué, reflecting the summit’s shared vision for stronger international cooperation, sustainable development and people-centred leadership.
Tsegaye Chama, General Secretary of the Global Black Centre, promised that, “The Summit will be delivered with exceptional distinction, reflecting the magnitude and spirit of the World Peoples Assembly. It embodies a unity that is not transactional, but purposeful and conscious, a unity that shapes new contours for a world that works for all peoples of the World.”
As delegates prepare to arrive in Addis Ababa, anticipation continues to build for what promises to be one of Africa’s most significant international gatherings of 2026—one that will place the continent firmly at the centre of global conversations about the future.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria regained its position as Africa’s leading destination for equity startup investment in the first half of 2026, raising $214 million in equity financing and a total of $254 million across equity and debt, according to the latest Africa: The Big Deal report.
The report, titled H1 2026: Mapping the Money, showed that Nigeria ranked second on the continent in total funding, behind Egypt, which attracted $327 million, while Kenya and South Africa followed with $126 million and $83 million, respectively.
However, the report noted that Egypt’s top position was largely driven by a single fundraising by electric mobility company Spiro, which secured $327 million, including $270 million in equity and $57 million in debt. Excluding debt financing, Nigeria emerged as Africa’s largest equity funding market in the first six months of the year.
According to the breakdown by Africa: The Big Deal, Nigeria’s equity funding of $214 million was higher than Egypt’s $183 million, while South Africa and Kenya attracted $66 million and $46 million, respectively.
Beyond funding value, Nigeria also led the continent in the number of startups that raised at least $100,000 during the review period, reclaiming the top spot after what the report described as an “underwhelming” second half of 2025.
The publication observed that Nigeria’s fundraising performance has remained relatively stable over the past few years and exceeded the $250 million mark for the first time since 2022, pointing to renewed investor confidence in the country’s startup ecosystem.
It also found that while the Big Four startup markets—Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya and South Africa—continued to dominate Africa’s investment landscape, their combined share of total funding stood at 58 per cent in the first half of 2026.
“Zooming back on the Big Four (110 out of 190 $100k+ deals, i.e. 58%), Nigeria is head and shoulders above its peers, with Egypt and Kenya almost tying, and South Africa in fourth position again,” the report noted.
The report highlighted contrasting performances among the continent’s largest startup ecosystems. While Nigeria and Egypt maintained strong funding momentum, Kenya recorded its weakest funding performance since early 2021 after a strong second half of 2025, and South Africa failed to attract $100 million in funding during the period despite leading the continent a year earlier.
Africa: The Big Deal also noted a broader shift in investor behaviour, with funding increasingly concentrated in larger transactions while early-stage investments continued to decline. According to the publication, the drop in smaller funding rounds reflects growing concerns about limited capital available for early-stage startups across Africa.
