Shillong, Oct 26: South Africa’s High Commissioner to India, Prof Anil Sooklal, interacted virtually with over 100 students from schools and colleges across Shillong on India-South Africa relations, BRICS and multilateralism.
The session was organised by Tiny Tots East Ville School under its ‘Passport to the World’ initiative. Students from St. Anthony’s, St. Mary’s College, Lady Keane, Pine Mount, MIT Meghalaya, Assam Don Bosco University and others participated.
Opening with history, Sooklal traced ties from indentured labour to apartheid, recalling Gandhi’s journey: “India gave South Africa a lawyer, South Africa gave India a freedom fighter.” He cited Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom and India’s role in anti-apartheid mobilisation through UN and sporting boycotts.
On BRICS and world order, he stressed a multipolar, rules-based system, flagged challenges in UNSC implementation versus the United Nations General Assembly’s equality principle, and discussed Global South cooperation, reforms in global institutions and Africa’s critical minerals.
Trade talks covered expanding India-South Africa investment, tariff barriers including wine, need for manufacturing and value-addition in Africa, and India’s DPI model like Aadhaar for knowledge sharing.
Sooklal, a fourth-generation South African of Indian origin, spoke warmly of Meghalaya and Northeast India’s potential for education and people-to-people links. He noted the India-Africa Forum Summit expected in early 2027.
Following the virtual interaction, participating students took part in a letter-writing exercise in which they reflected on the lessons they had drawn from the programme and identified areas where India and South Africa could deepen cooperation.
The activity encouraged students to connect the themes discussed during the session with their own perspectives on diplomacy, education, trade, technology and international collaboration.
