By Yaroslav Lissovolik

At the start of this year we turned our attention to the Southern Hemisphere as a potential region of South-South cooperation, as well as an important gateway to opening new venues for economic diplomacy in the global economy. We also observed that the Southern Hemisphere was composed of three sub-regions, including the South Atlantic, the South Pacific and the Indo-Pacific region, in which important trends of growing economic cooperation were starting to gain traction. Within only around one month after the publication of our articles we observe further important shifts in these regions’ alliance building that strengthen the pillars of economic cooperation in the South Hemisphere among developing economies.

Perhaps the strongest impulse to such cooperation was delivered by Brazil and South Africa earlier this month during the official visit of South Africa’s President Ramaphosa to Brazil. The key result of the visit was the signing of several agreements that included:

– Action Plan for the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Tourism: the plan updates the objectives of tourism cooperation between the two countries for the period from 2026 to 2029, focusing on promoting cooperation, information exchange, training, and technical assistance in tourism

– A Memorandum of Understanding on Trade and Investment was also signed between ApexBrasil and the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition of the Republic of South Africa, aimed at promoting information exchange, trade, and sustainable investment between the two countries.

Earlier this year, we highlighted the importance of the Brazil-South Africa ties for South-South cooperation in the South Atlantic region as well as the Southern Hemisphere, singling out tourism and trade as key areas for building greater connectivity in these regions of the global economy. President Lula in his speech rightly pointed to the significant potential of boosting bilateral trade with South Africa to higher levels – with bilateral trade currently reaching USD 2.3 bn, a more ambitious but realistic target according to Brazil’s President could be a USD 10 bn turnover.

With respect to the Indo-Pacific region, we pointed to the sizeable potential of boosting direct economic ties between Southeast Asia and Africa, including through closer ties between SACU and ASEAN as well as between Indonesia and South Africa at the bilateral level. In February one of the steps in this direction was made via the agreement between Indonesia and South Africa to boost tourism ties, with South Africa potentially targeting the development of halal tourism and digital-based tourism.

In the South Pacific, we noted the importance of the Southeast Asia – Latin America connection and in this respect we observe that Peru after signing a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IP-CEPA) with Indonesia in 2025 (the agreement is expected to enter into force in August 2026 upon the ratification by Indonesia’s Parliament) is setting higher goals for exports in the year 2026. According to the country’s officials, in 2025 foreign trade was one of the key engines of Peru’s economic growth, with the pace of export gains being among the highest not only in Latin America, but also globally. After posting more than USD 90 bn in exports in 2025, Peru is aiming to reach the target of USD 100 bn in exports for 2026. Peru expects to conclude FTA talks with India in 2026 and has acceded to the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA) in January 2026. The DEPA agreement that includes Chile, Singapore, New Zealand and South Korea and seeks to boost digital trade is in effect becoming a platform that enables the economies of the South Pacific region to bridge the distance barrier via advancing digital economic cooperation.

In effect, for the economic cooperation of the developing world in the Southern Hemisphere the key focal points represented by Brazil, South Africa, Indonesia as well as Chile and Peru are exhibiting increasing connectivity and prioritization placed on boosting South-South ties. Greater trade and logistical connectivity across these economies as well as their respective regional blocs – Mercosur, Pacific Alliance, SACU/AfCFTA, ASEAN – would lay a firmer foundation for building a more cooperative and vibrant Southern Hemisphere community.

Yaroslav Lissovolik worked in the International Monetary Fund, in Washington, where he was Advisor to the Executive Director for the Russian Federation. In 2004 he joined Deutsche Bank as Chief Economist and became Head of Company Research in Russia in 2009, and then a member of the Management Board of Deutsche Bank in Russia in 2011. In 2015–2018 Yaroslav Lissovolik was Chief Economist and subsequently Managing Director of Research and Member of the Management Board at the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB). From 2018 to 2022 he has been Senior Managing Director — Head of Research at Sberbank Investment Research (CIB). In 2023 he founded BRICS+ Analytics to conduct in-depth research on the future trajectories of BRICS+ development. Yaroslav Lissovolik graduated from Harvard University (magna cum laude) with a BA degree in Economics, and received an MSc in Economics degree from the London School of Economics (LSE). He also received his PhD degree in Economics from the Moscow State Institute for International Relations and a Doctorate in Economics from the Diplomatic Academy.

BRICS+ Analytics