https://en.sputniknews.africa/20260903/brics-summer-school-protecting-sas-sugar-industry-and-digital-sovereignty-1089228672.html
BRICS Summer School, Protecting SA’s Sugar Industry and Digital Sovereignty
BRICS Summer School, Protecting SA’s Sugar Industry and Digital Sovereignty
Sputnik Africa
This Nnete Fela Show looks at youth participation in BRICS, South Africa’s battle to protect its sugar industry, and the growing importance of digital... 03.09.2026, Sputnik Africa
2026-09-03T16:20+0200
2026-09-03T16:20+0200
2026-09-16T16:39+0200
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BRICS Summer School, Protecting SA’s Sugar Industry and Digital Sovereignty
Sputnik Africa
This Nnete Fela Show looks at youth participation in BRICS, South Africa’s battle to protect its sugar industry, and the growing importance of digital independence for the Global South.
The fifth BRICS Summer School is bringing young researchers, academics and emerging leaders from across BRICS and the Global South together at the University of South Africa.With this year’s theme centred on “Innovatively Inclusive Futures for BRICS and the Global South”, the programme raises a bigger question about whether young people are being given a meaningful role in shaping the future of the bloc.Russian Summer School delegate Mikhail Antonovich Ersov argues that international cooperation can begin with something as simple as bringing young people from different countries together.We also discuss South Africa’s sugar industry, where the government has increased import protection amid concerns about cheap foreign sugar putting pressure on local producers and jobs.Dr. Thomas Funke, CEO of the South African Cane Growers Association, describes the tariff increase as an absolute necessity, arguing that extremely low global sugar prices have made it difficult for South African producers to compete.In a special AI feature, we draw on comments by Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, to considers whether dependence on foreign digital infrastructure, software, communications systems and financing could create new forms of external influence.For countries in the Global South, the challenge is to gain access to technology while building the capacity to control, maintain and develop the systems on which economies depend amid the fourth industrial revolution.
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maria zakharova, south africa, africa, russia, russian foreign ministry, brics, аудио
maria zakharova, south africa, africa, russia, russian foreign ministry, brics, аудио
BRICS Summer School, Protecting SA’s Sugar Industry and Digital Sovereignty
16:20 03.09.2026 (Updated: 16:39 16.09.2026) This Nnete Fela Show looks at youth participation in BRICS, South Africa’s battle to protect its sugar industry, and the growing importance of digital independence for the Global South.
The fifth BRICS Summer School is bringing young researchers, academics and emerging leaders from across BRICS and the Global South together at the University of South Africa.
With this year’s theme centred on “Innovatively Inclusive Futures for BRICS and the Global South”, the programme raises a bigger question about whether young people are being given a meaningful role in shaping the future of the bloc.
Russian Summer School delegate Mikhail Antonovich Ersov argues that international cooperation can begin with something as simple as bringing young people from different countries together.
“I understood that our visions of this world, they're absolutely different […] So many men, so many minds,” Ersov says
We also discuss South Africa’s sugar industry, where the government has increased import protection amid concerns about cheap foreign sugar putting pressure on local producers and jobs.
Dr. Thomas Funke, CEO of the South African Cane Growers Association, describes the tariff increase as an absolute necessity, arguing that extremely low global sugar prices have made it difficult for South African producers to compete.
In a special AI feature, we draw on comments by Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, to considers whether dependence on foreign digital infrastructure, software, communications systems and financing could create new forms of external influence.
For countries in the Global South, the challenge is to gain access to technology while building the capacity to control, maintain and develop the systems on which economies depend amid the fourth industrial revolution.
