Background
South-South cooperation provides a channel through which developing countries can exchange knowledge and adapt technologies, policies and institutional approaches to their circumstances. South Africa and Brazil provide a useful case for examining whether such cooperation can also strengthen domestic technological capabilities, production and employment.
Their relationship has recently gained momentum. In August 2026, both countries held the eighth session of the South Africa–Brazil Joint Commission in Pretoria. The agenda included potential new arrangements in agritech, aerospace and defence industries, biopharmaceuticals, critical-minerals beneficiation, energy, and science and innovation. The meeting also took place as both countries sought to diversify their economic relationships in response to US tariff pressure. South Africa's Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola, argued that rising demand for transition minerals should support industrialisation, skills development, technological exchange and prosperity in their own societies rather than reproduce patterns in which raw materials are exported while wealth is generated elsewhere. The two countries also cooperate through BRICS and IBSA. Opening the IBSA Leaders' Dialogue in November 2025, President Ramaphosa called for deeper cooperation on just energy transitions and for the benefits of technological progress to be shared equitably.
Brazil is the world's second-largest biofuels producer and has built strong tropical agricultural research capabilities through Embrapa. South African companies operate in Brazil in pharmaceuticals, technology, mining and chemicals and South Africa's leading exports to Brazil include chemicals, mineral products, machinery and vehicles. South Africa's 2025 G20 presidency launched the Sustainable Industrialisation Hubs Coalition to localise clean technology value chains, create quality jobs and promote decarbonisation.
Can this cooperation convert these institutional relationships and capabilities into joint projects that enable researchers, firms and workers to adapt, operate, maintain and eventually develop green technologies locally?
The Event
Against this background, the Africa Policy Research Institute (APRI) and Instituto Talanoa will convene a virtual dialogue on two APRI work-in-progress papers. The first, Green Technology Transfer in South Africa and Brazil: A Comparative Policy Assessment, asks what each country can learn from the other about linking technology transfer to industrial strategy, skills, research and domestic production. The second, South Africa–Brazil Green Technology Partnerships: Assessing Focus, Scale and Partnership Architecture, examines how bilateral cooperation works in practice. The session will bring together policymakers, firms, investors, researchers and civil society to test the papers' provisional findings and identify evidence gaps. It will also explore which lessons can travel in each direction and how partnerships can balance commercial interests with local ownership.
