The 15th BRICS Academic Forum was held in Cape Town, South Africa, from May 14 to 17. This forum was the first large-scale offline exchange among think tanks of BRICS countries since the outbreak of COVID-19. Nearly 100 experts and scholars from BRICS countries, diplomatic envoys from many African countries in South Africa, teachers and students from South African universities, as well as officials from the Department of Higher Education and Training and the Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation attended the Forum.

Organized by the South African BRICS Think Tank and the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences, the Forum discussed topics such as developing a partnership towards an equitable just transition, unlocking opportunities through the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, as well as strengthening post-pandemic socio-economic recovery, multilateralism, the meaningful participation of women and the attainment of sustainable development goals. Participating experts generally agreed that Africa is the continent with the greatest concentrations of developing countries, and that cooperation with African countries to achieve high-quality development is an important impetus to the construction of BRICS organization mechanisms and reform of the global governance system.