South Africa: Pretoria appointed to chair the IBSA forum for 2026-2027, focusing on Security Council reform and trade cooperation

South Africa has been appointed to assume the chair of the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Dialogue Forum for the 2026-2027 period. This decision was announced during a ministerial meeting held Thursday in New York on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly. South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola, chaired the discussions with Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira and his Indian counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, according to SAnews.gov.za. Founded in 2003, IBSA brings together three emerging economies from Africa, Asia, and Latin America and manages the IBSA Fund for the Alleviation of Poverty and Hunger, dedicated to South-South cooperation projects. Ronald Lamola called for a reform of the UN Security Council "that reflects today's world rather than that of 1945," as well as a correction of imbalances in international financial institutions and the trading system. Mauro Vieira warned that "trade must not become an instrument of political pressure or geopolitical rivalry," advocating for a system based on WTO rules.