President Cyril Ramaphosa will meet with various leaders at the G20 summit in India. Picture: AFP)
President Cyril Ramaphosa is on his way to India to attend the G20 summit, where he hopes South Africa will be able to strengthen its relations with the global community.
The summit, hosted by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, begins on Saturday and will end on Sunday.
Several heads of state and government will attend the meeting of the G20.
But it was earlier reported that Chinese president Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will not travel to India. Chinese Premier Li Qiang will instead take part in the meeting.
Putin missed last year’s summit because of the conflict in Ukraine.
But US president Joe Biden will be taking part in the G20 gathering.
Ramaphosa said the G20 meeting was an important meeting for South Africa. Ramaphosa will also meet with various leaders on the sidelines of the summit.
“The G20 initially focused largely on broad macroeconomic issues, but it has since expanded its agenda to include trade, sustainable development, health, agriculture, energy, environment, climate change, and anti-corruption,” said Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya.
“President Ramaphosa will during the summit participate in the G20 Working Sessions themed One Earth, One Family and One Future.
“The president will also on the margins of the G20 have bilateral meetings with Heads of State and Government to strengthen South Africa’s diplomatic, economic and cultural ties. South Africa is a member of the G20 and its participation seeks to provide a strategic foresight in establishing an economic and international policy platform that will drive and negotiate the best possible outcomes for the country, Africa and the developing world,” he said.
The G20 summit comes after South Africa hosted the BRICS summit in Sandton which was attended by more than 40 heads of state and government from across the world.
BRICS member states agreed on the expansion and Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Argentina and Egypt were admitted as new members.
siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za
Politics