Brics: A Blueprint for the Global South, Africa and Namibia

The brics new Delhi Declaration, unanimously adopted on 12 September under India’s Brics Chairship, marks a historic turning point in global governance, economic resilience and Global South solidarity.

Titled ‘Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability’, this summit underscores India’s unwavering commitment to championing the voices of developing nations.

Addressing the gathering at Bharat Mandapam, prime minister Narendra Modi sent a clear message to the international community: the solutions and systems built within Brics must not remain exclusive; they must be accessible and adapted to empower the entire Global South.

For Africa and Namibia, the outcomes of this summit offer a powerful blueprint for economic transformation, digital innovation and sovereignty over our collective resources.

Indian minister of external affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, following the conclusion of the summit, said the 2026 New Delhi gathering demonstrated the strong convening power of Modi’s India.

Jaishankar emphasised that while geopolitical discussions successfully yielded unified stances on security and counter-terrorism, the true heartbeat of the summit lay in its “uniting themes”: reform, economic resilience, development and technology.

For the African continent, this focus marks a shift from reactive diplomacy to proactive developmental empowerment.

Modi made a call to fundamentally restructure the global architecture, urging developing countries to transition from passive “rule takers” to active “rule shapers.”

To back this vision, Modi presented a concrete 10-point roadmap for global governance reform under the Brics framework,which demands immediate structural changes to multilateral development banks, the World Trade Organisation, and the UN Security Council, aligning closely with Africa’s long-standing Ezulwini Consensus.

Modi warned sharply against the growing “weaponisation of technology and critical minerals,” which threatens to block shared progress.

The concrete frameworks outlined in New Delhi offer a practical and actionable roadmap to deepen the bilateral partnership. Namibia stands to gain exponentially from several new brick-and-mortar mechanisms established at the summit: green energy, smart grids and community knowledge.

The summit announced the establishment of the Brics Digital Centre of Excellence for Smart Grids and Energy Storage Systems. As Namibia rapidly positions itself as a global pioneer in green hydrogen and solar power, this centre provides the exact technical backup Namibia requires to scale its clean energy grids.

With climate-induced droughts threatening southern African food security, the summit’s launch of the Network of Centres of Excellence in Agroecology and Regenerative Agriculture is timely. By marrying traditional African farming resilience with cutting-edge Indian digital agricultural technology, Namibia can secure long-term food sovereignty.

Modi’s sharp critique regarding the exploitation of critical minerals directly aligns with Namibia’s national interests. Namibia is rich in lithium, uranium and rare earth elements.

The New Delhi framework champions local value addition and regional logistics supply chains over raw extraction. India stands ready to partner with Namibia to build local processing factories, ensuring Namibian wealth generates high-skilled jobs for Namibian youth.

Modi also announced the Brics Logistics Supply Chain Cooperation Framework to build shorter and resilient regional supply chains. As Namibia expands the Port of Walvis Bay to serve as the premier logistics gateway for the landlocked Southern African Development Community neighbours, this framework opens doors for technological collaboration to digitise logistics.

India proposed a Seafarers’ Emergency Support Network to provide critical safety nets for domestic sailors facing global maritime emergencies.

Through the newly launched Brics Connect (focused on workforce skills and empowering women) and a dedicated cooperation portal for small and medium sized enterprises, Namibian entrepreneurs and small businesses can gain access to direct networks, open-source artificial intelligence ecosystems and digital tools to scale their operations internationally.

– Rahul Shrivastava is the High Commissioner of India to Namibia.

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