South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Friday, 11 September, called on BRICS nations and their business communities to reorient investment toward industrialisation and local processing of raw materials, warning against remaining mere 'suppliers of commodities'.
'For too long, developing economies have participated in global value chains primarily as suppliers of raw materials and consumers of goods manufactured elsewhere,' Ramaphosa said during his address at the BRICS Business Forum in New Delhi, India.
The South African leader, quoted by Spanish news agency EFE, argued for the need to break with this pattern within the framework of the 'expanded BRICS', which includes founding members Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, alongside new full members Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Iran, and Indonesia.
Ramaphosa also highlighted the strategic role of the African continent in developing the industries of the future and in the technological transition.
'We cannot accept a future in which resource-rich countries, such as those in Africa, continue to supply the minerals on which the next generation of industries depends, while value transformation and industrial production take place elsewhere,' he warned.
To reverse this dynamic, the South African president argued that governments must ensure appropriate regulatory conditions, while also demanding concrete commitments from the private sector to direct capital toward in-country product processing, infrastructure development, and local logistics.
'If we want to change where value is created, we also have to change where investment is directed,' he said.
Ramaphosa acknowledged that the current geopolitical environment is defined by unilateralism, trade sanctions, and armed conflicts, but argued that the bloc's resilience depends on its ability to transform market disruptions into new productive capacities and strategic alliances.
'The question is no longer whether there is potential within BRICS, but whether we have the ambition, the instruments, and the alliances to convert that potential into economic value for our peoples,' Ramaphosa concluded, addressing government representatives and members of the alliance's Business Council.
The 18th BRICS Summit, which runs until Sunday, 13 September, has its agenda shaped by the war in the Middle East, trade tensions, and the difficulties of reaching consensus within a bloc now expanded to 11 members.
Source: Diário Económico
Original article: https://www.diarioeconomico.co.mz/2026/09/12/mundo/brics-ramaphosa-defende-mais-investimento-na-transformacao-local-de-materias-primas/
