New Delhi [India], June 9 : South African High Commissioner to India Anil Sooklal on Tuesday expressed confidence that the upcoming BRICS Summit under India's chairship will deliver substantive outcomes while praising New Delhi for maintaining momentum in the grouping's engagements despite a challenging global geopolitical environment.
Speaking on the BRICS summit that is set to take place later this year, Sooklal said South Africa views the grouping as a vital platform for advancing the interests of the Global South and promoting a more inclusive international order.
"South Africa has always considered BRICS a very important platform where countries of the Global South have been championing issues of concern for us, but also issues of concern to the global community in creating a more inclusive, just world system," he said.
Commending India's stewardship of the bloc, Sooklal noted that New Delhi has successfully kept the BRICS agenda on track despite ongoing geopolitical and security challenges around the world.
"India has the chairship of BRICS at the moment, and it's been a very robust chairship. We were informed that 80-plus meetings have been held. We must compliment India; given the current global fault lines and the very difficult geopolitical security situation, India has still kept on track all of the meetings that have been scheduled, and they are meeting with substantive outcomes," he said.
The South African envoy also expressed optimism about the BRICS Summit scheduled to be under India's chairship in New Delhi in September.
"We are very confident that the upcoming BRICS summit that Prime Minister Modi will host in September here in Delhi is going to be a very important meeting of global leaders. We are confident that this is going to be a very critical and important summit, and we are also confident that under India's chairship, there will be substantive outcomes," Sooklal said.
His remarks come as India continues to chair the BRICS grouping for 2026 amid growing global discussions on economic cooperation, multilateral reform, development financing and issues concerning emerging economies.
BRICS is an intergovernmental grouping comprising eleven emerging and developing economies: Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates.
The bloc was originally formed by Brazil, Russia, India and China, with South Africa joining in 2011, leading to the adoption of the acronym BRICS. The grouping expanded significantly in 2024 with the inclusion of Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Indonesia became the newest member in 2025.
Representing some of the world's largest emerging markets and developing nations, BRICS serves as a key platform for dialogue, coordination and cooperation on issues of regional and global importance, including international political and economic governance.